


Back to Jakku

by asingerofsongs, MayGlenn



Series: Stars and Skies [18]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: Poe Dameron (Comics)
Genre: Anal Sex, Asexual Rey (Star Wars), Battlefield Flirting, Clone Wars, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fanfiction within fanfiction, Force Bond (Star Wars), Handcuffs, Hurt!Finn, Hurt/Comfort, Light BDSM, M/M, Oral Sex, Sex Toys, The First Order Is Shitty, Torture, Why Does Everyone Want to Go Back to Jakku?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-01 20:55:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 38,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8637709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asingerofsongs/pseuds/asingerofsongs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayGlenn/pseuds/MayGlenn
Summary: The General almost didn’t let Poe go on the mission to Jakku, possibly because the last time Poe had gone to Jakku she nearly lost him, but probably mainly because Agent Terex was involved. They couldn’t have anyone from Black Squadron, who had tangled with Terex before, compromise the anonymity of their operatives. But Poe reasoned, cajoled, sweet-talked, and begged her to let him go with Finn and Rey, and she eventually said yes, on three conditions (which quickly turned into four): 
 1.	Poe was not allowed to leave the Falcon, for any reason,2.	Poe’s voice was not allowed on the coms for any reason,3.	Rules #1 and #2 applied to BB-8, whatever they said about their new “camouflage”4.	Finn had command of the mission.   “I kind of like Number Four,” Poe had said with a wink. “Am I that obvious?” Or, parenting is hard (on your sleep schedule and sex life), Sam goes to daycare school, our heroes go back to Jakku, a lot of bad guys show up, Poe is really bad at incognito, Finn meets Agent Terex under the worst possible circumstances, Rey's powers are growing, and the trio starts writing smutty Clone Wars fanfiction together.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Thanksgiving Post! May Glenn and Singer are so thankful for all our readers and reviewers, and hope to give you something to read on your phone when your family starts discussing the election. Also a shoutout to the [Star Wars Writing Alliance](http://starwarswritingalliance.tumblr.com/), a community for whom we are also grateful this thanksgiving.
> 
> For any new readers, we have added a running list of Original Characters, in case you want to read this as a one-off, or you are getting lost in how many there are.
> 
> Finally, even though its unlikely any sex-repulsed people are reading in the Explicit category, we're going to be tagging specific chapters as NSFW if you would like to read around that material. Enjoy!

By the time they had organized and cleared their mission to Jakku, it was officially three standard months to their wedding. Rey’s dress had come in, though she guarded it jealously, hiding it in the General’s quarters, where she had also tried it on to make sure it fit.

(“You look radiant,” Leia had said, standing behind her to brush her hair. “I know how to do the Mandalorian wedding braids, if you’d like?”

“Please,” Rey had said, feeling regal in her cream and gold gown. She spun once. “Can I wear my lightsaber?”

Leia smiled. “My father wore a ceremonial blade at his wedding. And Yavinese culture is influenced by their large number of Alderaanian refugees, so I think it would be appropriate.”

Rey smiled, and spun, watching her reflection in the mirror.)

The General almost didn’t let Poe go on the mission to Jakku, possibly because the last time Poe had gone to Jakku she nearly lost him, but probably mainly because Agent Terex was involved. They couldn’t have anyone from Black Squadron, who had tangled with Terex before, compromise the anonymity of their operatives. But Poe reasoned, cajoled, sweet-talked, convinced and begged her to let him go with Finn and Rey, and she eventually said yes, on three conditions (which quickly turned into four):

  1. Poe was not allowed to leave the _Falcon_ , for any reason,
  2. Poe’s voice was not allowed on the coms for any reason,
  3. Rules #1 and #2 applied to BB-8, whatever they said about their new “camouflage”
  4. Finn had command of the mission.



“I kind of like Number Four,” Poe had said with a wink. “Am I that obvious?”

Since Poe was literally going to be an exciting bus driver, he wanted to take Sam with them.

“I still don’t like the idea of you taking an infant on a covert operations mission,” Dr. Kalonia said. “But, yes, he’s cleared.”

“I’m not going to be _doing_ any of the operations,” Poe said. “Sam and I are just flying the ship, huh, Sammy boy?” Sam gurgled and kicked, making it difficult to slide him into the wrap. Poe looked to Rey and Finn. “I mean, we’d rather have him with us, right?”

Rey pressed her lips together. “I don’t like the idea of leaving him if we don’t have to. And a military base isn’t necessarily safer than the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy…”

Finn, though, frowned. "Um, I'm pretty sure the top secret military base _is_ probably a lot less risky than the _Falcon_." He didn't love the idea of taking their child so close to a warzone. It seemed unnecessarily risky, and it wasn't like Sam could help them decide. He was just happy to be with one of the three of them, and of course had no concept of danger, not now.

Finn was hoping to keep it that way for as long as he could, even if it meant having to entrust Sam to the care of Dr. Kalonia, Jess, and Sevens.

"I mean, we don't have to," Poe said. "I figured, just, for now...after the wedding Sam can live with my dad til the war's over, you know. That's what my parents did with me. But if things get to where _I'm_ in danger, sitting in the getaway car? Things have gone bad."

"But who can watch him?" Rey said.

"I mean, I just figured...since I'm just going to be sitting around, anyway, I could be babysitting." Poe looked at Finn. "But. I could also stay. Snap could fly you guys. I should stay," he suddenly offered, though he _really_ didn't want to pit them against Terex when he wouldn't be there...even if he wasn’t allowed to do anything.

"...What do all the other parents of small children do?" Finn asked.

"We have a school, you know, Major. It's a small group, but they can care for all ages," Kalonia said. "They're very kind. They would take excellent care of Sam." Finn nodded, surprised that hadn't occurred to him before. He and Poe had _been_ to the school a few times, talking to the slightly older kids about starships and how to hide from stormtroopers. He held a finger out to Sammy, who gurgled and grabbed it to wave around. Finn smiled like a fool—he loved their kid.

But Rey, now, was frowning, looking uncomfortable and sad and frustrated.

"Um. What if something—happens? To us?" she asked, and Finn blinked at her. He had no answer for this and looked helplessly to Poe for some sort of assistance.

"Guys. I said I'd stay," Poe said. "And you _better_ not let anything happen to you."

"Poe, we want you to come with us," Rey said.

"The General doesn't want me on this mission anyway..."

Dr. Kalonia cleared her throat, seeing that this was going nowhere fast, except maybe to all three parents ending up in conflict. "If I may—Poe, you mentioned your father? It's not a terrible idea to have these sorts of plans in place, in our line of work, even if you don't want to make them. Of course, he would never be alone, not here. He will always have a home here," she said, looking between the three of them. Rey looked close to tears, and she turned to kiss the top of Sam's head. "I'm sorry. I know this is not a conversation you wish to have, but in our line of work, it’s worse to not have contingency plans in place," Dr. Kalonia added. Finn turned to put his arms around Rey and Poe's shoulders, enclosing the four of them in a small, safe circle for a moment, Sam in the middle. The baby giggled and let go of Finn's finger to grasp at Rey's hair. With his other arm, he flailed happily at Poe's cheek.

Poe pressed his lips together. "I just—since I'm just a glorified bus driver on this one, I—" He sighed. “Finn, it’s your mission, it’s your call,” he decided.

Finn nodded and thought about it. "Poe, I really... I would really rather you come with us. You're the best pilot, and our best chance if anything does go bad," Finn whispered.

Poe nodded. "Okay, that’s fine." He looked down at Sam and gave a wet laugh. "I just thought I would have more time to psych myself up for the first day we drop the kid off at daycare, you know?"

“It is a school. They don’t like you to call it a daycare,” Dr. Kalonia reminded him.

“School, sorry.”

Rey kissed Sam's nose, which made him giggle and drool.

"Oh, eww. Are we sure they'll take him, drooling like that? It's unnatural," Poe laughed. "You, son, are unnatural." He smiled at the doctor. "Thanks, I guess, for talking me out of irresponsible parenting," he said, rolling his eyes.

Dr. Kalonia raised her hands in surrender. "Hey. Not my baby, I'm not going to tell you what to do. Not to say I never caught my children playing with a laser scalpel or anything..." she laughed and shooed them away. "Come back in one piece, now, all of you."

Poe mock-saluted and bounced Sam lightly. "Okay, guys. School's this way."

"We should get him a locket, too," Finn said as they walked to the school, all three going slow compared to their usual pace. "What do you think, Sammy? Want pictures of mom and dad and papa? But maybe not as small as a locket. You'd probably eat it." Sam blew a drool bubble and then wrinkled up his nose when it popped.

Poe laughed at the bubble, beginning to think maybe all the drool wasn't as disgusting as he had said. "Yeah we can get him a little holoprojector, to turn on in his room at night." Poe turned around and looked down, pausing to take a knee. "Hey, BB-8, do you want to stay with Sammy?"

BB-8 looked heartbreakingly torn, and the babble of binary that tumbled out of them sounded so conflicted that it didn't make a lot of sense at first. [I don't know] they said finally, hanging their head, which made Sam coo in Poe's arms and reach for their antenna.

Unaware that this would upset his droid so much, Poe immediately took over. "How about you stay, okay, buddy? The mission won't be dangerous, and I'll have Finn and Rey to look after me. The _Falcon_ mostly listens to me, now, and you can play with all the other kids, too, and stay with Sammy at night, so he doesn't get scared?"

BB-8 gave a nervous nod. BB-8 hated to be left behind on a mission, though it was an occasional inevitability, so it wasn't like this would be the first time they had been apart (though Poe had noticed his droid had gotten intensely clingy since Jakku, which made his heart ache).

"We'll be okay, bud. It'll be all right."

BB-8 trilled loudly, startling them all. [That's what you said the last time!!]

Poe laughed. "Okay, okay, sorry. We really will, though. Be all right. I promise."

Finn dropped to a knee as well and put a hand on BB-8's dome. "Poe's right—no crashing things this time, or anyone getting kidnapped. We'll be very careful," he said. “I’m glad you’ll be staying with Sam.” At least the baby would have a familiar face—and BB-8 loved children, as much as a droid could love anything, so they would be happy, too, even if they would probably worry constantly.

"That's settled, then," Poe said, and stopped at the door to the school.

Jonorai, the head teacher, a young Twi’lek, smiled. "Hello, Commander, Major, Ms. Rey... I didn't think we'd be seeing Sam so soon! And he's looking so big and strong!" She was one of those people who very quickly lost interest in adults when there were children nearby, but she managed to make eye contact—barely. "Here for a visit, or dropping him off?"

"Dropping off. Got a week-long mission," Poe said. "You're equipped to handle that?"

"Oh absolutely," she said, and sensing that they were having a hard time of it, she took them to see the facilities: where the kids played, where they learned, where ones who stayed overnight slept. "We've only got five enrolled right now, and I have one or two helpers throughout the day, so he'll have lots of attention."

When they finally had to hand Sam to Jonorai, it was all Rey could do not to take him back and tell Leia she couldn't go on the mission. But Sam, bless his precious heart, didn't make too much of a fuss. He was inclined to whimper a little bit, but as soon as Jonorai smiled at him and gave him her hand to grab, he offered her a hesitant smile.

"We'll take good care of him," she promised, hefting Sam’s diaper bag over her shoulder, and BB-8 bumped shyly against her shins with a low little whistle. "Ah, are you helping, then?" she asked, and they nodded. "Excellent. Want to come with me and we'll get him all settled?" BB-8 whistled excitedly before rolling back to Poe and chattering.

"Yes, yes, we'll be good and stay safe," Poe promised his droid. "You, too, buddy."

They left before anyone could change their mind or Sam could start crying.

Or before Poe, Rey or Finn could start crying for that matter.

They found their squad waiting for them in the hangar, fully kitted out: Torch, Reist, and Coni were joined by Sevens, who was sharing a tender goodbye with Jess a little off to the side.

"At least we can't do anything to get into trouble with you gone," Jess was saying.

"Jess," Sevens corrected, "I had my probationary meeting, or I wouldn't be going on this mission. You may still outrank me, but not in my chain of command. I admire you a great deal, and when we return I should like to—"

"There they are!" Coni cried, jumping up from where she sat on her go-bag. Sevens and Jess looked up, interrupted, but were holding hands when they came over.

"How come _you_ get to go, even though the General said Terex will be there?" Jessika demanded, punching Poe in the arm, also probably for interrupting her.

"Ow," Poe said. "Commander's prerogative?"

"Also because he's forbidden from coming to the surface or being on comms," Finn said.

"Basically he has to be invisible. And quiet," Rey said. Jess snorted and patted Poe on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Good luck. Stay out of trouble," she told him. "All of you," she added. Then she turned to Sevens. "You especially," she said.

Sevens may have blushed a little. They covered for it by bending to give Jess a goodbye kiss, and then blushed worse when Coni wolf-whistled at them.

Jess gave a small squeak, but, oh gods—wow, and Sevens had just—in _public_ —like, declaring it in front of everybody—and it was _great_. She was still blinking owlishly when Sevens pulled away and all but fled up the ramp.

Poe blinked, surprised, and blushed like he was getting kissed (a score for one of his pilots felt like a score for him, no matter how codependent that was), and then cheered.

"Niiice, Sevens! Jess, you lucky girl," he laughed. And now it was his turn to give her a condescending pat on the back before embarking.

"We'll bring them home," Rey promised Jess, who was broadcasting rather than saying anything out loud. "You'll check on Sam for us?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Absolutely," Jess stammered, and then they left her on the deck, still touching her lips.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is NSFW, and builds on [previous](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8103304/chapters/18759524) sexytimes discussions/negotiations, so it may be better to read Part 17 Chapter 6 first.

Once they were in hyperspace, Finn called everyone to gather around the holochess table. Since they were a small crew, he felt comfortable leaving Torch in charge of the others—just as soon as he had told them the full plan. "Alright. We're going back to Jakku, because the Force hates me. Rumor has it an agent Terex is stirring up First Order trouble and working with some of the less law-abiding locals to do it. We're going in under cover, so it's a covert operation. Poe and the _Falcon_ will stay cloaked in orbit and only touch down to drop us off and pick us up. Torch, if you would show the others the gun turrets and their bunks? We'll meet in the galley at 1700 for dinner," he said. Torch gave Finn a lazy salute and then elbowed Reist, and the others followed them out like ducklings.

Poe and Rey were beaming when Finn turned around. "I'm sorry we have to go back to Jakku," Rey said, but she was grinning too broadly to be really sorry.

Poe was smiling for a different reason. "That was a nice briefing. What are we going to possibly get up to until 1700? With no kid and no droid to worry about?" He and Finn had been reduced to quickies and tired lovemaking ever since they had found Sam, with Rey not doing so much as watching because she was so often so tired, and while they wouldn't _not_ want to have Sam for anything, they would all be glad when he was old enough to sleep through the night—for their sleep _and_ sex schedules.

"I can think of some things," Finn said. After all, he and Rey both had birthday presents that hadn't been used even once, which was a shame. "A few things, at the very least." He smiled shyly at his affianced.

"Aww," Poe said. "Look at him, playing coy..." Poe growled playfully, closing the distance between him and Finn and cupping the back of his neck. "When you know I am gonna wreck you within an inch of your life, Major." He pulled Finn into a sharp kiss.

"You're gonna find that a little more challenging wearing these," Rey said, and before they could blink, she had snapped her homemade handcuffs to his wrists, pinioning them behind his back.

"Hey!" he squawked, because a kiss in the corridor was one thing, but actually cuffing him before they got to their room was...well, okay _hot_ , but how was he going to explain this if the soldiers came around the corner? (He barely had their respect as it was, just because he couldn’t bench press his own weight…) "Rey!" he squeaked.

"We better get to the bedroom, hm?" she said, eyes glinting playfully.

"But now how are we going to get his shirt off?" Finn complained as he let Rey lead the way to the bedroom. She turned and grinned at him.

"I'm sure we can figure something out." She paused for only a moment to open the door before pulling both Finn and Poe after her. Finn was smiling a little wickedly, and she crowded him back toward the bed before kissing him, her fingernails scratching at the inside of his wrists so he'd make that adorable whimpering noise and melt happily against her. Then she turned to Poe, leaving Finn frowning at her sudden absence. "So. What should we do with you, hmm?" she asked.

Poe blinked, and Rey had flicked out her knife, wicked and curved.

"Uh—" he protested, stepping back. "The shirt buttons down the front. And, I might add, I only brought two others." But now she had him against the door and the flat of her knife sliding over the stubble on his jaw, and _wow_. They hadn't exactly pre-negotiated knifeplay specifically, but Poe was not going to complain—not least because it had been so long, and there was some kind of wicked-scavenger roleplay that his mind was going crazy with right now, so, no, not complaining. The opposite of complaining. He was already hard and he hadn't even been touched yet.

"Ooh, so I only have to ruin three shirts before you have to wander around the ship shirtless?" Rey giggled, and turned back to Finn. "I think you should fuck him against this wall," she said, and sheathed her knife so she could unbutton his shirt and shove it down his shoulders before starting in on his belt.

"I could do that... But he did threaten to wreck _me_ ," Finn said. "And I'm kind of curious how he's going to do that when he can't use his hands." Honestly, he'd be happy with whatever they did, because he did love getting Poe all worked up and desperate, but the mere thought of Poe instead doing that to him made his heart sort of race, and he _wanted_.

"Buddy, I don't need my hands to wreck you," Poe said with a smirk, though it was kind of hard to maintain when Rey was trying to get his pants off. "All right, all right!" he told her. "Let me get into bed at least!" He had a very unsexy vision of him trying to cross the room with his trousers tangled around his legs and tripping on his face.

Rey all but dragged him there, tossing him into Finn's waiting arms. She hadn't missed... _sex_ , exactly, of course, but she had missed the intense feeling of closeness that came from it, that came from how much Finn and Poe needed it and enjoyed it. She got more than a little rush at feeling them feel so happy, and it wasn't as though she hadn't enjoyed her time exploring with Poe's vibrator—but. Her reaction, even to things getting as heated as they were now, was to want more of that aching desire in her gut, not to get anyone's cock between her legs. It was _their_ vulnerability that felt good, not hers.

"Then lie back, Finn," Rey commanded. "See how long it takes him to get frustrated that you both still have pants on."

Poe laughed again, wriggling up on one elbow. "Oh, ye of little faith!" he cried, and, sure, he was a little unbalanced, but he got one knee in between Finn's legs and fell against his chest so he could kiss him, sharp and hungry and demanding, rocking their hips together as he fiddled with his shirt sleeves that had bunched around his wrists.

Finn laughed at Poe's somewhat clumsy flailing about, feeling light and happy and really turned on—and he needed more of this. He kissed Poe back, putting his hands on his sides to help him balance, and nipped gently at his lower lip.

Rey was grinning at the two of them, and when she couldn't take just _watching_ anymore, she crawled across the bed and nuzzled at Poe's neck. "My wonderful affianced. I've missed this," she told them, and raked her fingernails down Poe's back.

Poe knew better than to be as loud as he wanted to be, for the walls weren't that thick on this floating tin can— _Sorry, Baby,_ he told the _Falcon_ like a prayer—so he moaned into Finn's neck, muffling his cry as Rey's nails scored down his bare back, and, while he was here, sucking a biting bruise in the meaty flesh connecting neck and shoulder.

"Hang on—hang on," Poe gasped, trying to orchestrate this flailing of eager and clumsy limbs—you’d think it was their first time in years instead of weeks—and he lifted his head. "Finn, stop moving, I really don't want to chip a tooth on your belt," he said, and proceeded to shimmy down Finn's body so he could unfasten Finn's belt with his teeth. Everyone else was laughing, so he laughed, too. "With your permission, of course, my lady," he added, glancing up at her out of one eye.

"I have an idea," Finn said, and bared his teeth at Rey. "How about you stop asking _Rey_ for permission and put that pretty mouth to work?"

Even Rey looked shocked at this, but when the surprise wore off, she laughed. "What if I tell him to go nice and slow, tease you, and make you wait?" she asked, the sweetness in her voice completely at odds with the sly edge to her smile. Finn growled.

"I will find every last bar of chocolate on this ship and eat it while you watch," Finn threatened.

Poe barked a laugh, surprised and impressed at Finn's impatience and total unwillingness to play at his usual coyness when it came down to it. "Consider _my_ loyalty bought," he told her, and flicked Finn's belt and trousers open with a few deft bites and nudges of his lips and tongue. Rey had the Force, Finn was good at everything, and Poe Dameron had the most skilled mouth in the Republic, literally and metaphorically taken together. Trousers open, he nuzzled his way in, now, almost reverent and sweet, nudging Finn's cock free of his briefs with very gentle encouragements.

"Ha!" he said, when Finn's hardness sprang free, and he didn't need to be told a second time to put his mouth to work.

Rey, meanwhile, was glaring playfully. "What's this? Rebellion?" she said, and grabbed Poe's hair to control the angle of his throat, making Finn cry out and Poe gag slightly. And she could feel _that_ through them both like a bolt of lightning.

"I left—the First Order," Finn panted, moaning again as Poe moved his tongue. "This is _nothing_." He put his hands on Poe's hair and wound his fingers in where Rey's weren't, then tugged. This wasn't enough. He needed more, his body was practically burning with it, and he whimpered and closed his eyes. "Kriffing— _dammit_ , Poe. Do—more. Something," he gasped.

Rey grabbed both of Finn’s wrists and pinned them above his head, fingers digging in just enough. Then she stroked softly at his arms with her other hand, and he whimpered again. "No need to be nasty," she hummed to him. "We'll take care of you."

 _Whoa_. Poe could feel power ebbing back and forth through them—like the Force but also something very primal and animalistic, like a display to see whose teeth were sharper—at once serious while also very playful. And nothing played havoc with Poe's brain like power play—and it seemed to be working wonders on Rey and Finn, too—so Poe took a deep breath and let himself swallow Finn all the way. From here every gulp, every moan, every flick of his tongue had Finn begging, and it was beautiful to hear. Rey was pulling his hair just for show now, and Finn's hands didn't know what they were doing.

Finn's sudden orgasm surprised them all, and Poe coughed slightly but managed to swallow, easing Finn through it as he slid off.

" _No_ ," Rey said, shoving his head back down, making Finn cry out, too oversensitive to really enjoy Poe's mouth anymore, but not uncomfortable enough to make her stop.  It was just—now it was _too much_ —which Finn actually really liked. And Poe tried to protest, but all that did was make his throat vibrate again and—oops? "You wanted more, didn't you, Finno?" she purred, massaging the back of Poe's neck to keep him down, his throat spasming.

Finn nodded, then remembered he had a voice that he could use. "Yeah, yeah—please," he said. He curled his fingers around a pipe by his head and felt Rey's hand tighten around his wrist.

"That's it, you're alright. You're going to be so patient, aren't you?" she asked him, and when he didn't answer, she tightened her grip. He nodded. "Good. You're so good," she hummed, and included Poe in this, giving the back of his neck a scratch and moving her hand up to scratch at his scalp. "Don't move your hands," she commanded, and then let Finn's wrists go so she could gentle him with light scratches up and down his arms. He shivered and closed his eyes, enjoying this sweet torture, and Rey felt almost electric, like a slow-building thunderstorm.

With her hands on both of them, Rey was like a stern but benevolent god, and Poe could get lost in this, really he could, but he was probably dying trapped inside his trousers and—and really, there was so much _more_ of Finn's body that he had yet to get his mouth on! He pulled back with a soft pleading sound, and she granted it, let him gasp for air and beg: "Help me get his pants off him, please, let me lick him open so I can fuck him? _Please_."

Rey considered this, ignoring Finn's hitching breath, and then she smiled. "Yes, that's all right," she said, and then she was yanking Finn's trousers and underwear down so hard she nearly clocked Poe in the jaw. But then Poe was in, and Finn lifted his feet to rest on Poe's shoulders, and then Poe was mouthing at Finn's balls and tonguing deeper, lower, moaning and closing his eyes and thrusting his tongue into him like this was his damned job. 

Rey giggled and pet his hair, and then went back to Finn, to scratching his arms to help him relax. "How long should we make him wait, hm?" she whispered, feeling the pinpricks go up their spines in unison. "He likes this part, after all."

Finn whimpered, but Rey had told him not to move and he could be patient—he could. He had self-control. But it was _hard_ , especially when Poe was not exactly being gentle about what he was doing, giving him exactly what he'd asked for. "Not...too long?" he whined, his voice going high-pitched. But Rey kept stroking his arms, kissing him softly—on his closed eyes, on his forehead, on his nose—and whispering sweet encouragements in his ear.

"A little longer, I think. Just a little longer. You both feel so good... Think you can relax for me, Finn?"

He shifted his hands on the pipe and like lightning, she growled and grabbed his wrists again, and... _damn_ , that was...it was really hot.

"I said _relax_ , Finn. He's not going to be able to fuck you if you don't relax."

But Poe was licking into him and it had been so long since they'd spent this much time on this, and he _needed_ Poe inside him, and—and then she reached back and made Poe _stop_ , and Finn was going to die, probably (and very happily, part of him added). "I'm _trying_ ," he grated. _She_ should try relaxing while being eaten out by Poe, Finn thought with a small pout.

Rey let his wrists go and resumed stroking his arms. "Try harder," she whispered in his ear, and he forced himself to relax, just a little. "See? You can do it—you can do anything, Finn. My wonderful Finn," she told him, "And my wonderful Poe," she added, sitting back. "Think you'd like to fuck him now?" she asked Poe, combing her fingers through his hair, marveling, even in this moment, all over again at these two who were hers—her family, the rest of her soul, the best of her world—and she let that swamp their Force bond for just a moment, just to hear them both gasp at how _much_ and how purely she loved them.

Poe closed his eyes, breath huffing over Finn's skin, which made his thighs tense. He pressed a kiss between Finn's legs and just let Rey saturate him with—with this part of sex that was somehow better than orgasm, better than flying, just feeling how much someone else _loved_ you.

"Y-yeah, please," Poe said, realizing belatedly that she was asking him a question. Her hand was gentle in his hair.

"Then you had better get your trousers off," Rey told him, and immediately Poe was wriggling and scraping against the bed like a snake trying to shed its skin, but luckily his pants were already unbuttoned, so he fairly easily got them around his ankles.

Rey, meanwhile, giggled softly at Poe's display, at him trying in vain to kick his boots off, and found the pot of lube. "Are you going to hold still for me?" she asked Finn, slicking her fingers and waiting.

Finn raised his head to see what in the hells Poe was _doing_ and laughed when he saw him wriggling in a desperate attempt to get rid of pants and underwear without the assistance of his hands. He didn't hear Rey immediately, his brain sluggish and not great at concentrating on more than one thing when he was strung out like this, but he blinked at her. "I—for you?" he asked. She'd never even asked to be involved in this part of things before. He nodded quickly lest she think he wasn't sure, and let his head drop back, turning just a little to the side so he could see Poe's ongoing battle with his clothing. It was silly, yes, but the sinuous snakey thing he kept doing with his hips was also kind of hot.

"Yeah, for me," Rey said. "I want you to hold still. Don't fall off the bed, love," she added to Poe, giving him a half smile.

"I—I got 'em—off—" Poe was panting, his clothes tangled around his ankles, because his boots were not coming off without help.

"Good. Good boys," she whispered, and dipped one finger inside. She was a little unsure how fast this should go, but it was all very straightforward, so much that she wondered how they got such a thrill out of this part. "You did a good job, Poe, he's nice and loose. Nice and relaxed." Rey had let go of Finn's wrists and was petting Finn's hair, and he was good and wasn't moving, except to curl his legs up to his chest, especially as Poe wriggled back up alongside Finn's body, grinning broadly.

"Oh wow, he's gorgeous," Poe hummed, and latched onto his neck again, biting and kissing a line up to his jaw. "Let me fuck him, please," he whispered, like he was begging Finn instead of Rey (he was begging both of them, of course, the hottest thing in the world to Poe was Finn's enthusiastic and aware consent).

Finn had not quite been prepared for this turn of events, not at all. He was practically quivering with the effort of not moving, afraid Rey would stop, and he needed her to go just a little deeper, just—curl her fingers—he couldn't help arching his back and moaning as she found his prostate, and he felt across their bond her satisfaction at being able to do this to him—for him. "Please," he begged, "Please," not sure what he was begging for, either more of what she'd just done or for Poe, but he was already hard again. He whimpered as she stopped moving her finger at all and just pet his hair, while Poe continued kissing him. He knew what Rey wanted, knew it without her even telling him, and he took a few deep breaths, pulling himself back, forcing himself calm.

She found that bundle of nerves again and actually laughed as his hips hitched up and his legs flailed, having found the end of his self-control.

"Okay, love. Okay. You want Poe to fuck you now?" she asked, sliding in a second finger and, since he was fairly relaxed, a third, and working him open in earnest. She wasn't as smooth as Poe was about it, almost clinical in her approach, but Finn decided this was for the best, or else he was going to come before Poe even got inside him. He nodded to her frantically and she slid her fingers out and slicked them again, moving out of the way to give Poe some room.

"Think _you_ can be good for me? Can't have you hurting Finn, not when he's being so good," she said with a wicked grin at Poe.

Finn frowned at her because he wouldn't have minded that in the least, actually. It wouldn't have hurt _badly_. She ignored him, though, except for that grin, a little lost in being...part of this, participating in a way that she hadn't before. They were both so open to her, surprised and pleased and, she realized with some amusement, so much more turned-on than usual.

Poe was sweating as he got into position, trembling with barely contained need and excitement thrumming through him. Finn was gorgeous like this—shaking and desperate. Rey was gorgeous—clothed and composed and clinical—and yet utterly mentally wrecked, wrecking them both across the Force-forged bond between them, and Poe knelt between Finn's legs, wanting to touch his cock, wishing he could fuck him and suck him at the same time (what are spines good for, really?), but he eased his knees under Finn's thighs and Finn rested his feet on Poe's thighs while Poe lined them up, which was difficult when he was this hard and he couldn't use his hands. "Damn it," he swore after a few moments. "Finn, lift your hips up," he grunted, but Rey grabbed his hair, pulling his head back dizzily.

"Did I say you could fuck him yet?"

Poe gasped. "N-no, but—"

And, really, feeling that surge of willful, wicked helplessness from Poe—and feeling Finn's pang of panicked need— _that_ was all she wanted from that.

She let him go, slipping behind Poe now, raking her fingernails down his chest. "Want me to help you, love?"

Poe hissed at her sharp fingernails, admiring the red marks she left down his chest and sure he was going to come just from that. "Please," he said in a small voice. He had been much more confident about his ability to do this with his hands behind his back before he was so kriffing turned on, and he was getting cross-eyed with lust.

"Okay, shh," she said, stuffing a few pillows under Finn’s hips and returning to guide Poe into Finn, so slowly and smoothly that they each forgot to breathe. "Breathe, loves, you're okay," she said, grabbing Poe's hips to still them, and together Poe and Finn gasped in the same ragged air. "Now, don't hurt him."

"Not hurting him," Poe promised. "Not moving," he said, though it was clearly a strain. They were both of them shivering.

"If you're good, and you want me to, I'll hurt you," she whispered, and Poe nodded helplessly.

Finn shifted his hips just a little to give Poe a better angle and gasped when he started carefully moving. He could feel Poe's giddiness over the Force bond. Rey, too, was enjoying herself, and it was intoxicating. Finn finally let himself get lost in it, giving himself permission to do nothing but feel until he had to go back to thinking about the mission. His back arched against the bed briefly and he moaned, willing Poe to go harder, if not faster.

Poe felt that need, or saw it in Finn's eyes, clearer than across their bond, and he snapped his hips forward roughly, breaking free of Rey's hold so that she left scratch-marks across his hips, harder than she meant to.

"Mm, I like it when you fight me," she hummed, and gripped him harder now, enough to leave bruises and not let him move until they were both _whining_.

"Okay, good," she finally said, and let him go, and moved off to one side to watch them both. "Finn, I want you to move your hands to touch Poe. Find those pressure points. If he makes you feel good, make him see stars."

Meanwhile, the vibrator was just _sitting_ there....

Finn could have cried with relief, and he wasted no time reaching for whatever of Poe's body he could, hunting sensitive pressure points with his fingertips. Poe was leaning just close enough that when he thrust forward, Finn could just reach his shoulders. He found the pressure points behind Poe's collar bones easily enough and dug in with his fingertips, and Poe cried out and collapsed forward against him, now rutting into him desperately.

Rey remembered how good that release had felt, even though she'd been alone and even somewhat shielded from Poe and Finn so she wouldn't disturb them. Now they were both oblivious to anything around them, and didn't even notice when she reached for the vibrator and squirmed free of her trousers. They didn't notice when she sat back and reached for the lubricant, or when she turned the vibrator on. Whatever they felt from her, they either didn't notice or assumed it to be a result of what they were doing, and no wonder. They were both so close she could feel them building, and her own body responded in kind, especially when she used the vibrator.

It was just—they were gorgeous, everything they wanted to be—everything she wanted them to be, like a dream or a vision. Poe couldn’t lift himself back up from where he had collapsed forward against Finn's chest, panting and whining and straining: helpless, but his hips still worked like they were run by a separate brain, stuttering only slightly when Finn found a sensitive bundle of nerves and dug his fingers in until Poe had to stifle cries against Finn's shoulder. And Finn: Finn was holding Poe while Poe was draped protectively across him, he was following orders because he  _wanted_ to, he was putting his dark training to a good use, and he was being slowly, methodically, taken apart by Poe's lips and his cock. They made a funny pair, writhing like that, but watching them struggle, strain, being good for her, being hers— _hers_ —

And then Rey was over that horizon with a gasp, things tightening and rippling through her, her pleasure exploding outwards, and this time Finn and Poe couldn't keep quiet but shouted, orgasmed like it was wrung out of them, and then went very still.

When Finn came, it was like his mind overloaded. The next thing he knew, he was slowly returning to himself, sound and sight and other senses filtering in like he was regaining consciousness. He moaned and shifted, and Poe slid out of him, equally incoherent. "Rey?" Finn asked, reaching for her blindly, and she rested her hand on his ankle, unable to reach his hand. She was quiet, but he could feel her, and it was dizzying. She felt like...like after he or Poe came, but _closer_. He licked his lips and managed words. "What—um—" Okay. Sort of words. But Rey patted his ankle.

"That was me," she said, still sounding a little dazed, and Finn smiled like a fool. She felt _good_. "Poe?" she asked, and flailed a little until she found his foot to hold onto and shake gently, in case he hadn't been paying attention.

Poe wasn't quite flying, but he was in the air, like a kite, maybe, gliding. He moaned in response to his name because he didn't want to do anything else (okay he wanted to eat Rey out for dessert but he was pretty sure he wasn't allowed). That was amazing and he wanted to just savor it. Who was talking? He buried his face behind Finn's neck, concentrating on the ache in his thighs, the whirlwind in his head, on the sound of Rey _gasping_ like that, on the bruises and scratches forming like badges he had earned. And the love. He focused on the love that could bring such different people together, how they all kept each other so happy and enjoyed doing it. Poe knew he was at his happiest when he was making Rey and Finn happy, and he hoped they felt the same.

Rey finally stirred and put a hand on Poe’s wrists, but Poe made another noise and she seemed to understand it, because she rubbed up his spine instead as she lay down, tucking herself along Finn's other side, leaving Poe handcuffed and his pants still tangling his ankles together.

But Finn wasn’t quite able to sleep, not with Poe still handcuffed and partially dressed—and while that might have been all right with Poe, it was not all right with Finn. He nudged at Poe until he could reach his hands and flick the catch to remove the cuffs. He unlaced Poe's boots until they came off and pushed his pants off of his ankles. Only then did Finn settle, arranging Poe and Rey to either side of him. Rey promptly burrowed half under him, and Poe draped partially across him, and this was perfect. He sighed happily.

Poe fussed but let Finn manhandle him to freedom and, yeah, okay, fine, he had to admit this was better. "Stop, you're too nice to me," he muttered into Finn's armpit, and just to get back at him, turned his head and started licking and sucking at his nipple, winding arms and legs around him tightly.

"Ah no stop, not again, Poe, not yet," Finn complained, but Poe and Rey were each laying on an arm, so he couldn't actually stop him, though eventually Poe hummed to a stop on his own.

"Rey?" Poe said eventually, once the last—thirty minutes, tops, all of it a hazy sexy blur—came back to him. Rey's orgasm had obliterated both of them, and he needed to know whether he was allowed to get his hopes up for something like that again, or—better yet— _help_ with something like that. His mouth actually watered at the thought.

But Rey took his hand. "Talk later," she said. "It...surprised me, too."

"Okay," Poe said, and closed his eyes and was out.


	3. Chapter 3

Rey woke because she was cold, but a glance at the chronometer told her she was also _hungry_. Did she smell food?

"Crap," she said. Had they slept all the way through dinner?! Rey had never slept through a meal before! Had they all been really that tired? What were the soldiers eating? She sat up, only belatedly realizing—hilariously—that she wasn't wearing pants, but was still wearing a shirt, while Poe and Finn were sensibly fully naked.

Finn awoke when Rey did, although a lot less quickly. "Huh?" he asked, and struggled upright, blinking owlishly. He'd been _out_ , testament both to Rey having short-circuited his brain and to his sleep-deprived state. His stomach chose that moment to growl, and he realized why Rey had sounded displeased. "Dinner," he said, and reached over to paw at Poe's shoulder until he was fully awake.

Poe snorted awake with a start and with a flail. "Where?" he said, before he quite understood what he was being asked, and, "Oh," he said, and promptly rolled out of bed.

"Poe!" Rey and Finn cried, the thump startling them all fully awake. "You okay?" Rey asked, peering over the edge. "I don't want you getting hurt unless I'm the one doing it to you, remember?" she teased brightly, and leaned down to kiss him after he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to—sleep? What—" He leaped up when he realized the time, and pulled on his crumpled clothes. "Kriff! Those poor kids! I said I'd feed them!" he cried, rushing through getting himself and his affianced presentable with an urgency that seemed to indicate he was sure they would starve to death imminently if he didn't feed them. "What are you guys hungry for?" he asked hurriedly. "I could—what’s that smell? Are they already cooking?!"

"Probably...but I imagine they would have alerted us if they'd lit anything on fire or needed help. Coni isn't exactly shy. Torch and Reist, either, and Sevens will follow their lead." Finn pulled his pants back on and grabbed at his shirt.

"Inside out," Rey said.

"What?"

"Your shirt. It's inside out," she told him, pointing to the seam along the side. It was indeed inside out, and he pulled it off to right it.

Poe looked them over, and then flashed them a smirk. "Nobody's come in visible places?" he checked, wiping at his chin just to get a rise out of Rey and a blush out of Finn, and then they were out. "Guys! Guys, I'm so sorry, I was gonna cook, I swear—"

"You _should_ be sorry, Commander," Coni said, hastily hiding the evidence of their recently devoured ration packs. "We are dying of starvation, here!"

"Smells like you might not be starving any more," Finn laughed. He elbowed Coni and Reist to get them to move so proper food could be cooked. It smelled like ration packs, which probably meant they had heated a few. Sevens was eyeing them a little nervously and looked to be trying to hide the evidence by standing in front of it. Finn smiled sympathetically.

"Alright, if you're starving then you'll have to give us space to cook! Go on," Rey said, shooing Reist, Torch, and Sevens almost all the way to the door.

"Hey boss, how come you're so late?" Reist asked with a shit-eating grin that said they knew the answer. Finn rolled his eyes.

"You want to eat, or you want to be a smartass?" he asked them.

"If you really want to ask the parents of a newborn what they were doing the second they got the kid to a babysitter, man..." Poe said, grinning as he flicked the kitchen to life. "I got some basic information for you. And if you want details..."

"Okay, Poe, no," Rey laughed, shoving him gently. "Cook me food!"

"I'm working, I'm working!" he said, scrambling to make a quick pasta with sauce situation, nothing fancy, since he was hungry, too.

Coni looked between the three of them and then wrinkled her nose. "You three are disgusting in so many ways," she said. "Disgustingly cute mostly, because I'm trying not to think about what my commanding officer is doing behind closed doors..."

"Oh, like you and Dart don't get up to all kinds of nonsense," Torch responded.

Coni flicked a wadded up piece of wrapping at him. "Okay but we all _know_ I'm no innocent, precious angel human. I mean, just look at him." She gestured to Finn, who mouthed ‘What?!’ when he found all of them staring at him. Even Sevens was grinning. "He's too _sweet_ to be doing dirty things!" She sounded so aggrieved that the others couldn't help but laugh.

“Again, I have to say I got news for you…” Poe began, laughing, because Finn was painfully sweet but that did not by any means preclude him being absolutely filthy, as well. It was one of his many charms, in Poe’s opinion.

"And don't you even get me started," Coni said, moving on to Sevens, who briefly looked confused and worried. "You and Jess are so perfectly cute that I might _die_."

"Don't worry about Coni. She's crazy. We all just nod and smile. See? Just—" Reist nodded and smiled in demonstration and then elbowed Sevens into trying as well.

It was around this point Finn realized he really was in charge of children. Very highly trained, deadly children. His affianced were no better.

"I bet you’d love to know the filthy things your CO lets me do to him, and does to me," Poe hummed, on Finn’s behalf

"Poe!" Rey snapped, and looked at Finn. "Don't ever let these two be alone together," she said, motioning to Poe and Coni, who were clearly only too glad to kiss and tell among friends.

"Sevens, are you hungry for more food?" Poe offered, changing the subject. "Sorry we were busy...catching up on some much-needed rest," he added with a wink. "I promise I'll make us some good chow tomorrow. This is just—something quick. Not much better than what you had. You guys want a beer?" He glanced at Finn. "Oh, I mean, if the Major says it's okay." He grinned evilly and got a beer for himself.

"You so realize that if I told them they couldn't have beer, they same would go for you, me, and Rey, right?" Finn asked lazily. He was pulling a beer out of the fridge as he said it, though, so the effect was somewhat lost. He nodded to the others to go ahead, secretly flattered that they really had waited for his okay before they took any beer.

"Oh, man, I suppose that means extravagant barrel rolls and engaging the enemy in the air are off the table as well?" Poe said, pouting playfully.

"If you get my ship ID'd by that maniac, Poe, I'm going to be very cross," Rey said, tugging his hair and pulling him into a kiss. "Bus driver."

"I know, I know. Bus driver. Food's done," he said glumly.

There was a small rush for food as soon as it was done, and they all arranged themselves around the galley to eat. For a few minutes, it was very quiet, and then Sevens cleared their throat. "You said not much better than rations, but this is really good." They sounded uncertain, like maybe it wasn't supposed to be good and they just didn't know any better.

"He likes to pretend he knows what the word 'humble' means, but really he's just full of it. Remember what I said about his cooking when we were on the _Vapor_?" Finn asked, and Sevens nodded, since their mouth was full.

"Never trust a word Poe says about his cooking. Ever. It's all like this! Even when he's rushed and not trying it tastes good. It's unreal," Rey added. She was almost done, having essentially inhaled her portion.

"Oh, go on," Poe said, deflecting with a joke though he was actually more than a little proud. Rey and Finn got to beam at their beloved absolutely preening. Later on he would wonder if he was depraved for being pleased by nothing more than the praise of ex-stormtroopers and ex-scavengers who were relatively easy to impress, but now he just let it feel good. "I'm kidding. Thanks, Sevens, for saying so. Did you try the cheese on it? And a little bit of this vinegar would be good, if you want to explore some flavor frontiers. Or hot stuff," he said, shaking the pepper flakes over his own bowl.

"Yeah, it's real sweet of you to cook for us, commander," Torch said, dipping his head in a nod. "How do we get assigned to more missions with you three?"

"Keep sweet-talking me just like that, I'm very easy," Poe laughed. "But don't take it personal, really. I'm a new father in nesting mode, I'd cook for Captain Phasma now."

"Did you know he brought knitting to do while he's stuck alone on the ship?" Rey offered, and everyone laughed.

"It's an age-old Yavinese tradition!" he protested.

"I think it's wonderful," Finn said, because the memory he had of catching Poe knitting while Sam slept on his chest did things to his heart.

"Yeah, and completely unexpected." But it _was_ pretty cute.

"You any good at it?" Coni asked. "I could never figure it out—left-handed." Reist and Torch both looked bewildered—maybe because Coni was not anyone's idea of patient.

Poe laughed. "Oh, no, I'm terrible! But he's getting a blanket, I'm bound and determined. I still have the one my dad knitted me. Or, well, it's on Yavin..." He trailed off, caught up in memories of that ugly ratty old thing, and his mom wrapping him up in it, even when he was too old to have a blankey. He hoped his dad hadn't thrown it out. "Anyway, you just need a left-handed knitter to show you. You ever come through Yavin, I have an uncle you could talk to." He grinned. "I'll show you my progress when you guys get back." They weren't meant to be down more than a day, but if they needed to get inside anything, it could take longer, and he was prepared to dutifully wait.

"What's our ETA?" Finn asked, and it was Torch who answered.

"We still have about eighteen hours," he told him.

"Oh good... Maybe Poe can teach us all to knit..." Finn responded, and Rey whacked him gently.

"Or we could play holochess and get some sleep so we're ready to go tomorrow," she suggested. Starting a mission exhausted sounded like a terrible idea, especially on Jakku.

"Or we could be sensible, yes. Alright. And if you don't want to play holochess, feel free to find something else to do. But get your sleep while you can," Finn said, remembering he was supposed to be leading, and should probably actually do so.

"And I will make breakfast, I promise, this time. Something hearty," Poe said. "At some time...once everyone is awake."

"Including you," Coni pointed out.

"Yes, including the man who has two lovers to keep happy and needs his sleep so he has the strength to knit," Poe pointed out, which got a laugh.

"And to cook," Rey said, ruffling his hair.

"And fly," Finn added. They were exchanging sappy looks, so:

"No dessert?" Torch complained.

"There's cookies in the...up there," Poe said, and he pulled Rey and Finn to him. "You know we could project a holo nice and big on the wall of the cargo bay for everyone," he whispered. "Could make them watch some _Clone Wars_ with us."

Rey lit up at this. "Yes! We have to. It won't take too long to heat the cargo bay enough to be comfortable. And we could bring blankets." Finn pulled her to him to kiss the top of her head. Of the three of them, she was by far the most excited any time she was presented with an opportunity to watch _Clone Wars_.

"Apparently we're watching _Clone Wars_ in the cargo bay in—"

"Give it a half hour," Rey said as she bolted out of her seat to go turn the heat on to the cargo bay.

"In a half hour. I think we have popcorn..." he said.

It took them closer to an hour to get set up, but they had popcorn, cookies, more beer, and blankets to sit on and bundle up in. "Just like a drive-in holo," Poe said, glad to have people around who got his references for once. Rey, Finn, and Poe cuddled up near the back, and the others were glad to let them have it. Sevens was, adorably, right up close, legs crossed and gaze focused. Reist, who had never seen the series before, whispered constant questions, and Coni, who had studied history at the Academy, was only too glad to point out the historical inaccuracies until Torch told them both to can it.

Poe pulled out a datapad to type a secret message to Rey and Finn:

_Cute, aren't they? Sevens I mean._

But Finn and Rey only nodded when they saw his message, and smiled and cuddled closer. Poe didn't like not being able to talk over holos which his affianced, though, so he soon typed again:

_Who's your favorite character? No. If you could be anyone in this show, who would you be?_

Rey snorted at the question and put her datapad down, and it took Poe a moment to figure out she was thinking and not ignoring him.

 _Maybe Obi-Wan,_ she typed, _But he's kind of stodgy._

 _He's hot, though,_ Poe typed back. _I know where you get it from._

 _Gross_ , Rey replied, but was secretly pleased, even though this was clearly an actor who looked (and sounded) little like the Force Ghost of her grandfather.

Finn considered. _Fives. He's awesome._

 _You can't be Fives. He's a hero, the best, I agree, but he doesn't…_ Poe typed back. 

"Stop! Spoilers!" Rey hissed, and Coni turned around to shush them. 

 _Well maybe Rex?_ Finn tried instead, and watched Poe consider this.

_Sure, you can be Rex._

Finn smiled down at his holopad. _Who would you be, Poe?_

Poe chuckled aloud at the question.

 _Well since there's no dashing fighter pilots to speak of, I'd want to be Amidala. Amidala is a kriffing fox, and she's the only one who's not a fascist, basically, and, what can I say, I, too, have a weakness for powerful Jedi..._ he typed, and glanced dreamily at Rey.

Rey wrinkled up her nose suddenly. _Actually. None of the Jedi...I like the pirate more than any of them!_

Poe laughed, covering up his mouth.

_You might like Ahsoka by the end, he wrote._

_Maaaaybe_ , she replied.

 _Why do you have to be a clone, Finn?_ Poe asked. _You could be one of the Jedi...Kit Fisto isn't bad, and he's got your smile._ (Poe was a little bit in love with the actor who portrayed Kit Fisto.)

 _But Rey's a Jedi, not me. I'd have to be a clone trooper, since there aren't stormtroopers yet. Besides, I have a clone. And I’m the wrong species to be playing Fisto, even if we have the same smile._ Finn looked over at Poe and grinned wolfishly, not at all the kind of funny, sweet grin that Poe would have compared to Kit Fisto. Rey caught him at it and poked him in the ear so he'd quit moving around so much. He made a very bad pillow when he was moving around, and she was trying to lean on his shoulder.

 _I think you'd be a fine Kit Fisto, even if you are the wrong species,_ she told him once they'd both settled comfortably again.

 _Oh, and that guy isn't even Nautolan, Poe said_ , looking up some pictures to show them. _He's Human. It's kind of racist, it's not like there's not Nautolan actors they could have chosen…_

The characters were in a space battle:

 _Would you be my gunner? Shit, Padmé isn't a pilot. I would have to be someone else. Maybe I could be a clone, too?_ Poe glanced at Finn. _No, but then we couldn't have sex..._

Finn typed a smiley face. _What if we pretend Amidala can fly?_

 _None of these really fit. What if we made up our own?_ Rey asked. Finn looked over at her and mouthed 'What?'

_You know, like our own story. I used to do it when I was little... I'd tell myself stories about Rey the bandit queen and her whole huge family ruling the desert waste of Jakku with benevolent but iron fists._

Finn grinned at her.

_When are you going to tell us those stories, huh?_

_BACK TO CLONE WARS. Our own story. Could we?_

_Note to self,_ Poe typed, _Get Rey to tell stories to Sam. It's your own kid, Rey, you can't begrudge him stories of the bandit queen of Jakku._

He and Finn were laughing now, loud enough that Torch threw a pillow at them. "Get a room!" he shouted.

"We got a room, pal, and you're in it!" Poe replied, but they quieted. _Okay, so we just put ourselves in the_ Clone Wars _. Yes. I'd be a pilot. One of these Republic officers. Maybe I'd_ work _with Amidala_... Poe giggled. _I could be one of her handmaidens._

 _I have a hard time believing that... I mean, doesn't_ maiden _imply, you know..._

 _That he hasn't done filthy sex things with you?_ Rey asked when Finn trailed off. He snorted and then coughed, prompting everyone but Sevens to turn around and glare. Coni threw popcorn and bounced it off his head even though he smiled innocently through his coughing fit.

_Yeah. That. Thanks so much, Rey! /sarcasm_

Poe giggled. _Okay, okay. Not a handmaiden. Her pilot, then._ Poe shrugged _. I like taking orders from powerful women, what can I say?_

Rey laughed silently and shoved him.

 _What would you be?_ Poe asked her.

She shook her head. _One of these Force Users they meet that isn't a Jedi?_

 _Like a Dathomir witch?_ he teased.

_No! Ew!_

_You'd look good bald. I'm just saying_ , Poe said.

 _You could be a different Jedi_ , Finn suggested. He saw Rey wrinkle her nose out of the corner of his eye.

_I don't like the Old order. There's a reason Luke sort of did his own thing._

Finn hummed thoughtfully.

 _You could still be a clone trooper,_ Rey suggested.

_Yeah I guess. Beats a stormtrooper..._

_There are interesting parallels, though_ , Poe said, frowning. _The Republic was pretty kriffed, and just because it was replaced by something_ worse _doesn't erase its problems._ Poe laughed. _I'm way too invested in the ethics and politics of the Old Republic. I've always wanted to write like a political thriller-romance kind of thing set during the_ Clone Wars _. But, you know, hard to find time to write when you're a mynock-jockey fresh out of the Academy, then in the Republic Navy, then defecting to the Resistance, then becoming engaged and a father._ He shrugged and grinned: oh, yeah, his life was _so_ hard. But now that he thought about it, Poe remembered trying a few times when he was in his twenties to do this, write it just for fun, but had long ago given it up.

 _So what you're telling us is you need us to help you make up characters for your story,_ Rey typed, grinning.

 _I'm not writing this thing on my own, no_ , Poe replied.

 _I don't know how to write_ , Finn responded. _Other than like...orders. Reports._ He wasn't even a good storyteller like Rey—by all accounts, every audience to his stories previously had been either injured, medicated out of their minds, or both.

 _BANTHASHIT_ , Rey and Poe typed at the same time, and they exchanged a grin.

 _You're an excellent storyteller_ , Rey pointed out.

 _And you read a lot,_ Poe added. _And if you think I'm_ not _going to write the smuttiest trashiest drivel you've ever seen, then you might rethink who you're talking to._

 _We're writing porn?_ Finn asked, with an audible chuckle.

 _Oh gross,_ Rey said, adding a frowning face and an emoji that was sticking out its tongue.

 _Well, I mean,_ and _politics,_ Poe typed. _Politics, ethics, smut. Starfighters. REY THE OLD REPUBLIC STARFIGHTERS!_

 _So does this story have a plot then?_ Finn asked while Rey was silently squealing about the old starships.

 _Stop being a killjoy!_ Rey looked over at him and stuck her tongue out, and a brief wrestling match ensued before Coni paused the show.

"Guys, seriously, commander or not, if you don't stop interrupting..." she said imperiously.

"Sorry, sorry!" Poe said, sitting in between them now to separate the two hooligans.

 _The plot is...the Clone Wars?_ Poe typed. _Star-crossed lovers. The nature of humanity. The ethics of cloning._

 _The ethics of the Old Jedi Order,_ Rey added.

Poe nodded. _Sure. In the end, Finn can have an arc similar to Fives, where he finds out about the chip. And Order 66. Only he doesn't die._

 _Whoa, spoilers!_ Rey complained, and Poe swiftly deleted his most recent comment.

_Well, when we get there you'll see._

Finn shook his head and snuggled up to Poe's side with a happy hum. When the episode was over, he yawned but didn't move. Coni rolled her eyes and Reist and Torch both laughed and shook their heads. But Sevens tipped their head as if considering this sort of physical interaction for the first time. Finn smiled at them and got to his feet. "Time to sleep," he said.

"Yeah," Poe agreed, shutting his datapad off, though he was already fantasizing some cheesy scenarios for their book.

Having wished the soldiers good night, he laid in bed while Rey and Finn danced around each other in the tiny bathroom to get ready for bed. "So...this rakish, handsome pilot...is he going to have to teach this innocent Clone trooper a thing or two?" he wondered.

Rey snorted and rolled her eyes.

Finn thought briefly and then laughed. "No way, that already happened once. This Finn knows things. He's going to teach _Poe_ a thing or two." Rey extricated herself from the tiny bathroom and joined Poe on the bed.

Poe blushed and sat up. "Oh-ho!" he laughed. "I like the way you think, buddy," he laughed.  

"Jedi back then didn't do things like have sex," she said, sounding almost wistful.

"Uh, Rey..." Finn started, and then she started giggling.

Poe grinned at Rey and ruffled her hair. "Correction: Jedi back then didn't do things like _admit_ they had sex. As my first piece of evidence, I’d like to call Rey to the stand."

Rey shoved him back on the bed, but Poe kissed her nose just as Finn jumped on top of both of them. "Wait, help! I need to brush my teeth!" Poe cried, wriggling out from under Finn and leaving him kissing Rey.

"Oh! Hey!" Poe added as if suddenly remembering something important, ducking suddenly back inside, toothpaste foaming in his mouth. "The cwown twoop—agh—" he spat in the sink, rinsed his mouth, and was back: "The clone trooper and the pilot can seduce the celibate Jedi..." he suggested, and winked.

Rey blushed furiously and buried her face against Finn's chest. "I can't write that! I don't know what to write!" she said with a muffled voice, and Finn pet her hair.

"There are multiple possible solutions to that problem, you know."

"Yeah but...I don't know..." she squeaked.

"Poe and I can start and you can jump in when you want to," Finn suggested.

"Oh crap I forgot!" Poe cried as he joined them on the bed. "The pilot was gonna have to be gay so there was no sexual tension between him and Amidala. I mean, can you imagine? He'd be trying to seduce her away from her douchey Jedi husband all the time. I just wouldn't be able to help myself." He hummed. "Though he could be gay and...change his mind when he meets this lovely Jedi. Sexuality is on a spectrum, right?"

"Yeah, maybe we can change _your_ sexuality for once,” Rey said, poking his nose. “Also, not a Jedi, remember?"

Poe nodded and kissed her hair, wondering if that was supposed to be some kind of dig. "Right. Sorry. We'll keep an eye out for other Force users in the show—that aren't the witches."

"Well, technically, Rey could just be a Force user who isn't a Jedi and just does her own thing, right? Or would the Jedi Order take issue with that?" Finn wasn't exactly tired, and this seemed a fun way to pass the time until he was sleepy. But he was very content, snuggled up with his loves. He grinned a dopey, happy grin and squirmed until Rey gave him a pointed look. "I was getting comfortable. More comfortable." He moved another inch and then sighed. "The most comfortable."

"You're a ridiculous person, and I love you," she told him, and he grinned.

"Oh, I think they would have a huge problem with—" Poe began, and then: "Stop wiggling," he grumbled, unable to use Finn as a pillow when he was just squirming to get attention.

"Or we'll use the binders on you next," Rey threatened, kissing Finn's jaw. "Love you," she hummed. "Love you both."

Poe yawned and tucked his face against Finn's neck. "Love you two, too," he said, and then giggled a bit.

Rey sighed and snuggled up to Finn's side so she could easily reach across his chest to take one of Poe's hands. It was comfortable, and good, and Finn decided maybe he would sleep after all.

"What if Sammy needs us?" Rey asked, after a few minutes. "I don't want him to think we _left_ him."

"He won't," Poe assured her, laying a hand over hers. "I mean, it's kinda sad, but he's a bit young to even miss us. Object permanence or something. And BB-8's there. And we'll be back before he knows it."

Rey lifted her head. "Will he _recognize_ us?" There was apparently a lot she didn't know about babies. She would have to read up on this.

"Oh of course he will," Poe assured her. "It's just things like stranger danger and wanting his parents versus anyone with warm arms and milk is kind of a...it comes later. But he _knows_ us. Babies are just weird, I don't know. Go to sleep, you think too loud," he teased, squeezing her shoulder.

"Both of you go to sleep," Finn mumbled, finally tired. "Sammy is fine. If he gets sad I'm certain Jess or the General or Luke will be happy to step in if they're needed." He pet Rey's hair reassuringly.

Rey made a face. "Fine," she said, and then took a deep breath. "BB-8 is with him."

"I mean, am I the only one worried that our kids are going to grow up speaking more Binary than Basic?" Poe laughed, his breath tickling Finn's neck judging by how he flinched, so Poe did it again. "Mm, love you." He swung a leg up over Finn's thighs, only to run into Rey's leg, which he promptly hooked an ankle around.

"Love you," Rey answered, and was asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update 1/8/17: MayGlenn is writing, for your reading pleasure, [Created Equal](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9231971), a (jedi)stormpilot Clone Wars AU that is meant to be Finn and Poe (and Rey)'s fanfiction. Fanfic inception!


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay, cloaking engaged," Poe reported over the comlink: Rey and Finn were kitted out in Jakku-scavenger-bounty-hunter chic with their stern-faced squad (his affianced looked so beautiful Poe whispered 'When you guys get back, we are having so much sex' and Coni had overheard and asked 'Ooh, are we all invited?' and Poe had to remind her how close she was standing to an airlock and who was the pilot here to shut her up) and at the ramp for a quick exit. Poe was flying low, ready to slow down, drop them, and get off the planet, get tucked in behind the nearest moon and wait for the pickup call, or, if he heard nothing, come back in forty-eight hours—blaster cannons blazing.

"Coming up on the drop, kids. Hit the ramp. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" he said, hugging a sand dune as Rey opened the doors and pulled Finn into a kiss before dropping off the ramp and landing in a roll.

Finn went after Rey, and his troops came after them, one by one. Sevens jumped down last, rolling neatly and standing in a fluid motion that probably, Finn thought, would have made Jess swoon. Once they'd all brushed the sand off ("kriffing _sand_ in my kriffing _clothes_!" Finn muttered, already annoyed, until Rey cleared her throat at him) he double-checked that everyone was good to go and nodded to Rey.

"Lead the way," Finn said, and she looked around before starting to walk.

Poe was remaining close, for the moment, until he could be certain they were safe—or as safe as they could be. Finn looked up and was momentarily startled to not actually _see_ the Falcon. Instead, where it should have been, there was a sort of heat haze he couldn't quite see through. When he looked right at it, even the heat haze was difficult to see...

"Ah! The cloaking tech does look cool," Rey said. She could almost hear Poe whooping with glee as he soared overhead, even though he was supposed to stay off the coms.

And then she did hear him: "Shit, shit, we got contacts, stay down!" He said, over a private channel, though there was no guarantee it couldn’t be hacked. Rey pulled him and Reist to the ground, and the others hit the sand, which made Finn grumble.

Poe had been so busy watching the team from a distance that he wasn't paying enough attention to his scanners. And then the _Carrion Spike_ loomed around a dune, heading straight for them. At Rey and Finn and their squad.

Praying that Leia wouldn’t kill him for this, Poe dropped the cloak, letting the ship flicker back to the visible spectrum.

Finn's face was full of dirt, so he missed whatever Poe did, but since the engines on the ship above revved suddenly, he assumed it was something stupid. Rey, probably knowing he was about to look, hissed at him to be still.

This wasn’t going to plan at all. The _Carrion Spike_ wasn't even hailing Poe! Had they not seen him? They were still heading for the divot where Poe had dropped Rey and Finn, and weren't changing course.

"Rey? Promise you won't let Finn be mad at me," Poe said, and then he switched to an _open channel_ : "Agent Terex, I presume? I should have recognized your foul stench when I hit atmo!"

And then the _Carrion Spike_ was at least shooting at him, which was good news, and turning, _fast_ , and suddenly Poe was strafing down the long sleek body of the ex-Imperial vessel.  And they were swinging around at him.

"Commander Dameron," drawled a voice in smooth High Basic. "I'm a little surprised to see you...alive."

Poe's laughter echoed across all channels. "You are the corniest villain of all time, man, has anyone ever told you that?"

"And you, Commander, are easily the corniest want-to-be-action-hero of all time. I am merely adjusting my speech to match the genre."

Poe rolled his eyes. This clown was making this too easy, taking the bait, and following Poe into the skies, away from the team. “Yeah, well, me and my chiseled jaw are waiting for you, pal, so bring it on.”

...

Finn scrambled to his feet as soon as he was sure it was safe to do so and looked up to see a tiny _Falcon_ being chased by a larger ship.

"What in the kriffing _hell_ does he think he doing? He’s going to get himself killed!” he told Rey, alarmed enough to sound so angry that his soldiers collectively took a step back.

"Well—he _did_ provide a distraction? And they won't catch him. They better not. _I'll_ kill him if he hurts my ship." Rey grabbed Finn's arm. "Let's get into town, come on," she urged. "Before they come back."

Finn sighed, already feeling a headache coming on, and let Rey lead them toward the Niima Outpost. She seemed to know exactly where she was going, which was good. He would have been lost in the first five minutes.

As they moved, Rey pulled a kerchief over her face, and Finn did the same. Coni wore huge dark glasses, and kept making fun of Reist for their big floppy hat.

"Okay, if our target is off chasing Poe, we have a chance to get in with the local gangsters. I can't be the one to talk to Plutt, though," Rey said.

"I'll take Coni and Sevens and talk to Plutt." Finn needed Coni to stop him from arbitrarily throttling Plutt for any one of a hundred things he'd done to Rey, if the unfortunate Crolute annoyed him. "You could take Torch and Reist and try the gangsters who don't know your face?" he asked (because even in a mission context, it was hard to give orders to Rey). "We need to keep in communication, but I'll settle for hourly check-ins. Miss a check, and we're coming to find you immediately." Finn looked to the others and waited for acknowledgment on this—there would be no waiting if someone was late. There was far too much at stake and far too much danger here—between the gangs, the First Order, and the hellishness of Jakku on a good day—to ignore a missed check.

"Got it," Rey said, and, unsure if she was allowed to kiss Finn in the middle of a mission, she hesitated before nodding at her two soldiers. "Torch, Reist, with me." She was about to turn and head off in another direction before she remembered not everyone knew where they were going here. "Oh, right." It was eerie how well she remembered the shapeless dunes. "Niima Outpost is that way. You'll be able to find Plutt easily, since we hit his building on the way off Jakku last time." Rey winked and motioned to her soldiers to follow. "We'll swing North and come at Blowback Town and the…rougher part of the settlement," she said.

"Wait, there's a rough _er_ part of Jakku?" Coni squeaked, but she was following Finn and could only give her friends a farewell salute before she was left with Sevens and Finn.

"Better them than us..." Finn said as he watched Rey leave with the other two. If anyone could keep themselves safe in the rough part of a rough town on a rough planet, it'd be Rey and those two jokers. "Come on. Let's see what nasty business Plutt has been dealing in recently," he told Sevens and Coni, and they turned to follow where Rey had indicated they should go.

Niima Outpost was every bit the hellhole Finn remembered from his last visit, although at least this time he wasn't wandering in half-dead of thirst and injured. The water was right where he remembered it, and he wrinkled his nose. It had been gross water, and he was probably lucky he hadn't contracted some disease from it.

Plutt's building had been patched, but not repaired, in the year since he had last been here. There was a line at the desk, but Finn was in no mood to wait. He jostled a few people out of the way, mindful of any weapons they might be carrying but mostly assuming if he acted like he could throttle them to death with his bare hands, they'd back off. They did, and let him move to the front of the line, and it made his heart hurt—he only knew they would back down because it was what Rey would have done, faced with a threat she could just as easily avoid, and with no one but herself to defend.

Sevens and Coni exchanged a look, but followed their commander's lead and played tough. Coni was much smaller than Finn, so she didn't bother playing a bodyguard, but she was pretty so she might pull off something a little more intimate if necessary. Sevens, on the other hand, was several inches taller than Finn, and could definitely pull off bodyguard, though of course Finn didn't necessarily look like he needed one.

Unkar Plutt looked up, startled, to Finn's masked face. "Can...I help you?" he demanded, by no means cowed, but not interested in trying to out-bully another bully.

"I can't imagine why else I would be standing here on this godsforsaken planet," Finn answered in complete honesty. "Heard a rumor some common acquaintances of ours might be found nearby," he said quietly. Some of the others in line were crowding closer, but backed off when he slid his glance to him and stared them down. It occurred to him that he didn't much care for how easy these people were to bully, or how easy it was for him to play the part of a bully...

Plutt raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid...I don't know what you..."

Sevens jostled their way forward and slammed their hand down on the counter. "All right, slugface, we know we're not the only ones on this rock with information, guns, and empty purses, so tell us what we want to know!"

This startled Plutt, and he glanced nervously around him.

"Come around back," he said, and shut his window.

The hungry crowd dispersed.


	5. Chapter 5

Blowback Town was teeming with unsavory types, and Rey never liked to come here. But with two of Finn's well-trained soldiers at her back, and Master Luke's training under her belt—literally, if the lightsaber counted—she felt, well, not safe, but...confident. And she carried herself with confidence, so no one bothered her.

There was one establishment that passed as a bar here, and she flung the doors wide as she went inside. She knew what Bala-Tik looked like from when she and Finn had seen him but he had not seen her—though if he was entertaining loyalties with the First Order, he may recognize her face from a Wanted poster or—dossier or something they likely had on her—so she kept her face covered.

"Heard Bala-Tik's in town," she told what passed for a bartender, a small Jawa that used to terrify her when she lived here. Now the Jawa only looked small. "Where can I find him?" She was trying to speak in a more standard Basic accent, but tough, like Han’s, though she couldn't tell how well she was pulling it off.

[Like I'd tell you] the Jawa replied, after looking her and her companions up and down.

Torch bristled, going to threaten the Jawa, but Rey knew that would be a bad idea and stopped him.

Instead, she grabbed an old compressor fuse she'd pulled from the Falcon for just such an occasion. The currency in the outpost was food, liquor, and parts. Here it was just parts, though sometimes other vices could be sold.

The Jawa picked up the fuse and nodded to a dark corner behind them. [Guavians are in the back. If you get killed, clean up after yourselves.]

This was apparently the Jawa's idea of a joke, but Rey didn't laugh. She looked over her shoulder and indeed saw the masks she recognized from when she had run into them with Finn and Han. With a glance at Torch and Reist, she made her way towards their darkened corner.

"Which one of you is Bala-Tik?"

"You're lookin’ at 'im," one of the men said. His feet were kicked up on the table, and he leered at Rey as she stepped forward, completely and utterly unconcerned. "Who wants to know? Your boss? Oughta tell 'im he shouldn't be sendin' a lady in here, even with a coupla body guards," he added in a lazy drawl. “We dinnae get a lot of Zabrak around here, usually,” he told Torch, like this was a problem, and then he stared at Reist for a few silent seconds. "Or's it two ladies? Never can tell with some of you lot," he asked.

Rey felt, more than saw, Reist move out of the corner of her eye. They were like lightning when they were angry, and Torch was already pissed off, so he followed them instead of stopping them, and they were going to start some kind of fight and all three of them were going to end up _dead_.

Rey sighed sharply and drew her blaster, firing it right next to Bala-Tik's feet, which had not moved. He jumped and nearly fell out of his chair, and Reist and Torch at least paused.

"ENOUGH," Rey snarled, blaster still leveled at Tik's face, unwavering. "Make one more move, you lot, I dare you. You two—wait until we have what we want before you kill them, if you would," she said pleasantly to Reist and Torch, and they grinned wolfishly.

"What do you think you’re playing at?" Bala Tik hissed. "Current operation's full. So unless you want me to give your name to the First Order, I suggest you beat it." The Guavian Death Gang tightened their grips on their weapons, and there were more of them than there were of Rey and her companions.

Rey began to rethink her strategy. Ugh, this was why Poe and Finn did all the talking!

"You remind me of someone, actually," Bala Tik said, suddenly brave, suddenly standing up. "There was this wash-up, swaggered around like you, spoke like a karking nerfherder. Still owes me fifty thousand. I heard he finally got what was coming to him, though—"

Rey had been ready to let Reist pummel this guy, but had stopped it in the interest of trying to get information out of him. She'd tried—she _really_ had. But then he'd gone and insulted Han Solo, the closest thing to a father she had ever had, and she found she didn't care if Reist broke every bone in his stupid body.

She spun her staff, whacking him neatly in the face. Reist jumped on the nearest person they could reach, and Torch didn't need telling twice. Quarters were far too close to use blasters, though, so it devolved into a true bar fight in short order.

Although they held their own, Rey and her companions were the outsiders, and the rest of the bar presently turned on them. Her face covering came away and [Hey, don't I know you?] the Jawa at the bar said, pointing at her, and, feeling cornered and exposed, Rey let the bouncers fling them out of the bar, Torch and Reist hissing and spitting.

They landed in the dust outside.

"Everyone all right?" Rey asked.

"Yeah," Torch muttered, nursing a split lip, though someone else’s blood was on one of his forehead spikes, which he counted as a win.

Reist dusted themselves off, grumbling, "Well, that sucked."

They both looked at her, wondering what their next move would be.

When Rey had nothing even remotely helpful to offer other than retreat to deal with their minor injuries not in the middle of traffic, Torch decided it was up to him to make suggestions.

"Look. I'm not saying it's the best of all plans, but it's a pretty good one. Did you see how flammable that place was? One good fire, that's all it'd take. Just—a single match, really, maybe some lighter fluid." Rey looked at him in disbelief. "Oh come on, it's a good idea!"

"No, Torch. That is a horrible idea. That is the exact opposite of a good idea. The worst idea," she told him, and Reist, after some consideration (they'd have liked to see that guy burn), had to agree. It might draw more attention than they wanted.

"We could—"

"No."

"But their ship!"

"Is not as flammable as you hope."

"Anything’s flammable if—"

"Oh my gods Torch shut up already," Reist finally said, and got him in a headlock to drag him after Rey, who was ferreting out somewhere to lay low until they could get ahold of Finn and the others.

"Is that really how you solve all your problems? With fire?" Rey said, shaking her head and checking her com. It wasn't quite time for the hourly check-in, but she pinged Finn just in case. Maybe he was having better luck...

...

Poe was happy leading the _Carrion Spike_ on a merry chase through the star system for over an hour before he thought it was...well, a little strange that Terex hadn't tried threatening him or gloating or generally being his usually exuberantly sleazy self yet. Poe had kept the _Carrion Spike_ in range, though the _Falcon_ could easily outrun her, so that they would continue to chase him.

In his previous encounters with Terex, both he and Poe had always gotten chatty with each other, and Poe almost missed it—Kylo Ren and Phasma, for example, were absolutely shit at banter, which just made dealing with them that much less fun.

But Terex and Poe hated each other just enough to love goading each other. Which wasn't so much fun as just less awful, but Poe took what he could. 

So the fact that he hadn't hailed him, not even once, since they had left atmo, was...

Wrong.

Poe checked his communications logs, with an uncomfortable feeling clawing at his gut, keeping one eye on his trajectory.

"Shit. No," he said, scrolling back through his logs. "No, no, no..."

Terex's voice had been coming from an open channel, so he hadn't checked it (stupid, stupid, stupid), but his voice hadn't come from the _Carrion Spike_.

It had come from the planet.

Terex wasn’t following him. He was still on the planet.

"Fuck!" Poe said, and spun around and burned all engines to get back to Jakku.

…

Finn and his soldiers met Plutt at his back door, Coni sticking close to Finn's side as if for protection (Finn almost laughed) and Sevens following them with the most overtly threatening posture Finn had ever seen. He was half afraid of them himself, and he knew that they weren't going to actually do anything unless they had to. Finn looked over at them and stood a little straighter.

"Well? Lead on," he snarled when Plutt remained just standing there like a stone.

"Yes, yes," Plutt said, welcoming them into his hut and leading them down some stairs. They quickly realized his bungalow actually was just a cover for a vast underground network. There were walls and walls of parts scavenged by the poor locals, and, even more unsettling, walls and walls of food rations.

"It's a good thing we were expecting you," Plutt was saying, and there was a loud clang behind them. Finn, Sevens, and Coni turned, drawing weapons, but the heavy doors were already closed, and ten stormtroopers stood in the way. Another ten trotted up to surround Plutt, who grinned smugly.

"If it isn't Major Finn," said a smooth voice, sounding almost pleasant. "Or is it FN-2187?"

Agent Terex stepped out from the shadows.

Finn, Coni, and Sevens had drawn their weapons as soon as the heavy door slammed shut and the trap became clear. Finn could read the same terror from Sevens that he felt, and the realization that if they were taken, they'd either be killed or reconditioned. And Coni would fare no better.

This was probably why Sevens opened fire when one of the troopers shifted. In the immediate confusion, Sevens grabbed Coni and threw her against the door, forcing it open.

The troopers and Terex had gathered their wits by then and opened fire as the three of them ducked out the door.

Sevens knocked down another trooper blocking the stairs leading up and away to freedom. If Terex knew about Finn, then he probably knew about Sevens, too, and they were _not_ going back, damn it. Nothing was going to make them turn around and risk recapture, not when they could see sky and light and air and—

In the hail of blaster fire behind them, Sevens heard a cry and a skidding thud. They knew better than to turn around, but they did.

Coni was down.

 _Don't protect your weakest link, let them die_ , was the First Order mantra. Sevens needed to escape. They weren’t going back.

But they weren't a stormtrooper anymore. The Resistance doesn't leave anyone behind.

Coni—or Coni's body—was across Sevens' shoulders in a heartbeat, and Finn was shouting at them to get out of there. "I'm right behind you!" they heard, and a shot glanced across their hip, but Sevens didn't go down. They had someone to get home to and someone to bring back and if they could just hide in this crowd—

When Finn saw Coni go down and saw Sevens turn around to pick her up and carry her up the stairs, he knew there was no way they were going to get away clear, not with so many after them and Coni injured or worse. At least—they couldn't _all_ escape.

Terex apparently expected him to keep running, and his troops were following too closely, trying to take him alive. So when Finn turned, landing a kick to a knee and a punch to an exposed throat, they ran into him and all of them went sprawling, kicking and yelling. Finn did his best to cause chaos, and he wasn't ineffective (tickle fights were oddly good practice for this sort of thing, and he had always been good at melee combat).

He just hoped Sevens had the good sense to get away and find Rey and Poe.

"Cute, but I hardly have the time," Terex said, and he took aim and fired on the former stormtrooper with a taser gun, and the young man dropped like a load of bricks and lay there twitching. Another stormtrooper who was in the middle of grappling him also dropped unconscious.

"Well? You four, secure the prisoner, and I _mean_ secure. You six, go after the others," he barked.

…

When Sevens, hiding behind a pile of rubbish, checked their comlink, a light told them that Rey had tried to contact them.

"Rey?" Sevens hissed into the com. "We've got a problem." Coni wasn't dead—not yet—so that was something. "I think Terex has Finn. He's got a platoon of stormtroopers at least and we are in a compromised position. Corporal Coni is down, we need medical evac."

Rey gasped in disbelief. Surely she'd misunderstood. "Terex can't be there, he's chasing Poe—where are you?" she asked all in a rush. Torch and Reist were watching her carefully for an indication of what they should do, Torch with his hand resting on his blaster and Reist looking around as if they might see the others—and Finn—if they looked hard enough. Her heart was pounding and she felt vaguely sick.

 _“Rey? Rey!”_ came a voice crackling through their coms. It was Poe, his signal barely coming through. _“Finn! It’s a trap, Terex is still planetside. I repeat, Terex is still on Jakku, proceed with caution—”_

"Commander, I need medical evac at my coordinates. Coni is down and I can’t go back after Finn if—"

 _“Wait, Sevens? What about Finn?”_ Poe's mind reeled—was Finn hurt? Captured? Dead?—but they had to act fast.

Terex was smart. Scary smart. He'd have them all by the nuts if they blinked at the wrong moment, and they had already screwed up. _“Shit, guys, ditch your coms, now. Emergency rendezvous point. I'm an hour out. Can you get there?”_ No answer. _“Rey, can you get there?”_

“THEY HAVE FINN!” Rey yelled, already starting the direction of Niima Outpost (she knew this place like the back of her hand, there was a shortcut—), but Torch and Reist were faster than she was and they tackled her before she could go ten feet.

"Rey, you can't. You'll get caught too, that’s insane—we’ll get him," Reist told her, even though she tried to punch them.

"Okay _really_? You're a Jedi, you could get away if you really felt like that was the best option," Reist added, and she ceased struggling in order to focus on not crying.

"Come on, we have to get to the rendezvous. We'll get him back, Rey. We will."

 _“Rey, baby, I'll be right there, just hang on. We'll get him!”_ Poe said, and then Torch took their coms and crushed them, and Reist lifted Rey to her feet and dragged her off to the rendezvous point.

...

Agent Terex picked up the comlink from the unconscious FN-2187's belt. "Use this to track the rest, if they're not _much_ stupider than I thought," he said. "And bring the traitor to my ship when she's been docked.

The stormtroopers tied a bag over Finn's head, cuffed hm and dragged him out.

"Oi. What about what my pay?" Plutt demanded.

Terex went to his belt. "Oh. Terribly sorry," he said, and shot the Crolute in the head.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for torture and Terex being a creep. Mildest hint of a rape threat.

"Stay with me, damn it!"

Sevens was shouting at Coni as they bound up her chest wound, slapping bacta foam in the wound to do its work and keeping an eye on their surroundings.

The stormtroopers weren't hard to spot, and Sevens had to lift Coni again and carry her to a new hiding spot to wait them out. They were never going to make the rendezvous, and the stormtroopers weren't going to take long to find the com Sevens had left buried in the trash.

If not for Reist paying attention, and if not for the need to skirt a group of stormtroopers, they would have missed Sevens and Coni. As it was, they found them the same moment as the group of stormtroopers they thought they'd avoided—or maybe it was only the other half of the group of six that had come after them. Rey was not in the mood to be merciful and shot one before they could even raise their blaster. The other two dove for cover and there was a brief fire-fight that Torch and Reist handled for her. Blasters were something Rey and her great-grandfather agreed on (according to his portrayal in the _Clone Wars_ , anyway: she had never actually asked him).

"Can you carry her?” Rey asked Sevens. “We need to move before the other three troopers wonder why their friends aren't answering their coms.”

"Yes," Sevens said, setting their jaw firmly. "And—I’m sorry..." they began, but Rey wasn't listening, was _refusing_ to listen now. "Terex surprised us," Sevens reported instead. "I don't think the Major was hurt. He—he let us get awa—"

"Stop talking. Start running," Rey growled. "We head south."

"I thought that was where the sinkholes are?" Reist cried, laying down cover fire as Rey stood up.

"That's why I'm going first," she said. “Follow me.”

Then they were running.

They were fast, even carrying Coni, but the stormtroopers had speeders. Still, they made it about a klik ahead before the stormtroopers caught up, and Sevens was able to set Coni gently on the ground before turning to draw their weapon.

Rey was ready to kill their pursuers, with or without the Force. When one fired on them, she snarled like the feral desert creature she'd always be and drew her lightsaber.

When Rey leapt out in front of them, lightsaber spinning to deflect the blaster bolts, Sevens was sure this was going to be some kind of last stand.

And Sevens wasn't going to let anyone take them alive. Not again.

Except— _Jessika_ —they had to get home to—

No. Better to die than to be reconditioned to try to _kill_ Jess someday.

Sevens hoped, for Finn's sake, that he hadn't let them take him alive.

Torch and Reist opened fire, downing two troopers, but then Reist went down, and Torch was standing over them and roaring as he fired—

But that wasn't Torch roaring. That was the roar of a starship engine.

Sevens threw themselves down on top of Coni as dust and debris flew. Commander Dameron's stories about himself were actually true, apparently, because though the _Millenium Falcon_ ’s blaster cannon fire arced so close past them they could feel the heat, every shot hit a stormtrooper, and none of it hit them.

"Get on board!" Poe was shouting, lowering the ramp and not even touching down all the way but _hovering_ , and, well, Sevens didn't need to be told twice.

…

Finn couldn’t see. He couldn't hear, or move. There was air, because he could breathe, but he couldn’t feel it stirring, like he was in an enclosed space. He tugged at his restraints and found them too tight to permit any movement. They were clearly taking no risks with him—so he was probably on the _Carrion Spike_. He hoped Sevens and Coni had found the others—and that Coni was going to be okay. And that Rey and Poe weren’t too angry with his heroics, and that they were planning a rescue mission.

Soon.

A voice suddenly filtered in to him through a comlink channel, that wickedly smooth High Basic, like Poe's favorite villains in the _Luke Skywalker Adventures_ or _Clone Wars_ :

"It's nice to see you awake, Major Finn. Or should I say Major Dameron—have I missed the wedding? I had thought I was to be invited. Pity, as I had such a surprise planned for our dear Commander."

Finn didn’t answer, so Terex continued: "But tell me, nothing ran in the Yavin papers, so how long ago was it? Can't be so gauche as to send a wedding gift, what, more than a cycle late? That's my rule of thumb, anyway." Here Terex laughed. "Only, between you and me, why I'm asking a stormtrooper about the niceties of wedding present timing is beyond me. Especially not one we’re going to recondition and send back to kill his fiancé-slash-husband and his fiancée-slash-wife."

Bright light suddenly flooded in to Finn's eyes through a small window in front of his face. Finn flinched and tried to cover his eyes, but his wrists were, of course, bound tight to whatever surface they had him on. It felt like a chair, and from what he could see, was very like one—or anyway, it was like the ones the First Order bound interrogation prisoners to. Only this one was encased in something like an ejection capsule, or a very small closet. A coffin, really.

Finn remained silent, clenching his teeth to stop himself from outright snarling at Terex through the glass like some kind of trapped creature. He clenched his fists and found Rey’s spinner ring still on his finger. He focused on giving it a spin, thinking of her, and throwing Terex a dark glare.

"But first you're going to listen while I tell you what an ordinary First Order officer would have tried to torture out of you, and no doubt, eventually, succeeded in getting from you." Terex began to pace, smugly, speaking into a comlink that fed into the containment cell Finn was in, and the only sound he could hear aside from his own breathing was his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.

"You're here with Commander Dameron, who is clever, but is a hothead who can make spectacular mistakes. And you're here with Rey, the fledgling Jedi who is no doubt training with Luke Skywalker—ah, yes, we heard about his appearance to some sympathetic senators who weren't as sympathetic as their pocketbooks, if you know what I mean—so we know you've found him. Good job! It will make our job much easier when we destroy you all, no doubt. Where was I? Oh, yes, Rey, who is just the kind of Ben-Organa-Solo-Anakin-Skywalker-Jedi we _all_ want to see, because at any point she could snap and jump with both feet off that knife edge to the Dark Side. We know you see it, too, and we know it worries you. We’ll watch her career with great interest. We know you interfered with our cloning technology and cost the Order a great deal of money. Oh, and, lives were lost, but I hardly need to remind you that that's your fault, do I? A nice beginning for someone who claims to want to 'rescue' Stormtroopers. Ah, yes, and we have identified PN-7777 who’s with you, the Order will be glad to get her back..."

"That's _not_ their name,” Finn snapped, the mention of all those clone lives and fear for his recovered stormtroopers making him talk: “How desperate must the First Order be to be hiring hack mercenaries to do the job their generals should have been doing?" Finn answered with a snarl, finally unable to keep it to himself. "And I wasn't the one who programmed a ship to explode if anyone found it. Hux is the only one insane enough to find that kind of solution acceptable."

Terex suddenly smiled. "Oh good, there _is_ a bit of spunk in you, I would have been disappointed if you had made this easy," he drolled. "As for why the Order hired me, you’re completely right that I do the work their generals should be doing, and only your Captain Phasma sees that. Hux is a megalomaniacal daddy's boy who has no idea what he's doing, but, well, you can't argue with numbers. Even with all the stormtroopers you killed at Starkiller, the Republic is still down five planets, most of a government, and most of a military. So he gets results, even if he is a madman." Terex smiled.

“But to know why they… _recruited_ me in the first place, we’d have to go much further back. To the days of the old Empire, actually…” Terex leaned in close, his breath fogging the glass. “It seems, deep down, under that white plasteel armor that makes us like all of our brothers and sisters—it seems you and I are not so different, after all.”

Finn balked. Terex had been a… “A _stormtrooper_?! You?” An Imperial Stormtrooper.

That made a lot of sense, actually. They at least were mostly formally recruited, as opposed to kidnapped and brainwashed.

Finn set his jaw. “That couldn’t make us more different,” he said, and that was all he had to say about that.

Terex watched him, closely, as if disappointed that it didn’t get more of a reaction, but he quickly recovered and drew back. "Then that leaves just one subject for us to discuss, so let’s begin before you're too weary to answer me. Oh, and you might as well know that if I get an answer I don't like, this is what will happen to you." Terex did something to the front of the containment cell, and blue electricity arced inside.

The taser had hurt, but it had also knocked him out, which had been a mercy. This electricity wasn't half as concentrated, and it crackled all over his body, arcing around the rings and necklaces he wore, making him hate them for a brief moment. He tensed and pulled against the bindings, body spasming and squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his jaw against the sound he wanted and refused to make. When the electricity flickered out, he steadied his breathing and opened his eyes. If Poe could tell an interrogation droid eight hundred and thirteen times that he didn’t know where any map was, and Rey could hold out against Kylo Ren rummaging through her head, he could hold out against a little bit of physical torture.

Finn grunted softly but made no other sound.

"Now, that's just you and I getting to know each other a bit," Terex was saying. "And if you tell me what hole the Resistance has crawled into, we won't need to do that again. I might even let you see your precious Jedi and pilot again." Terex smiled. "The longer you take, the more creative I can be—certainly with what I can do to Commandeer Dameron.” He gave a dreamy sigh that made Finn thoroughly uncomfortable. “Oh don't worry, that stays between between me and him. You know we go way back, don’t you, he and I? Incidentally, you're not incredibly attached to his _tongue_ , are you?" But when Finn opened his mouth to protest, Terex hit the electricity again, increasing the voltage this time.

This time, when the electrocution stopped, Finn had bit his tongue—not badly, but enough to taste blood. "Come on, as if I would tell you anything. Give me a little more credit than that," he grated. He was going to get himself shocked again, he knew it, but maybe he'd picked up Poe's backsassing habit: "You're just jealous his tongue is all mine." As a comeback it wasn't much, but it sure made him feel better. He was going to get shocked anyway—he might as well get up Terex's nose while he was at it.

Terex didn't seem the least bit perturbed at not getting what he wanted. "Yes, I suppose that's true," he mused, graciously letting Finn score a point before flicking a different sequence on the front of the containment cell. "Perhaps considering your own mortality will make you less brave," he said, as a hissing sound and a change in pressure sucked the air out of Finn's cell. "You have a son to return home to, I hear."

No air.

There was no air, which was far more panic-inducing than any electric shock. Finn remembered feeling like he was suffocating in his helmet, during that panic attack on Jakku—and this was worse. His lungs strained to get air and failed entirely. He almost missed Terex threatening his son, but when the words made it through his panic. He did have a son to get home to, and he threw himself against the bindings holding him pinned to the chair, ready to strangle Terex any way he could.

But he couldn't keep it up and Terex just stood there smiling while Finn's vision started graying around the edges. He'd been banking on Terex wanting to keep him alive, but now doubt started creeping in. _If I die, I'm sorry, and I love you more than—life_ , he thought, though there was no way for their son to read his mind. But…Rey might?

"Now, now, you don’t think you're getting away from me that easily, do you?" Terex purred, as Finn began to taste air again, just enough to keep him alive and gasping. "We've just gotten started, Major. You don't think I'd let anything happen to you after...what, seventeen minutes? My record is seventeen _days_ , Major, in case you're concerned about my credentials. And if we can't get your friends to join us, I think you might help me beat my record." He shocked Finn again, longer this time, until he began to scream.

...

"Poe! They're hurting him, I can feel it!" Rey screamed, grabbing Poe by the forearms and bodily forcing him from the cockpit.

"Rey!" Poe countered. She had a hard grip on his elbows and he knew he couldn’t fight her, so he tried reasoning: "We've got two soldiers in critical, Forcedamnit, what do you expect me to do? I want Finn back, too, but we need to get them medical attention or they're going to die! Finn wouldn't want us to risk that!"

Rey made an inarticulate noise of frustration and actual pain, because she could _feel_ them torturing Finn.

Poe was right, and she hated him a little for it. She let him go.

"I'm going after him, then, drop me off," she said, and turned on her heel and ran for the ramp. She stood at the top and willed the _Falcon_ and Poe to go faster, to drop her safely so she could find Finn. "I'll take a new comlink with me. Get Reist and Coni to safety and come back for us. I'll wait for you before I do anything, if I can," she told Poe.

"Rey!" Poe shouted, because he had no intention of letting her go back alone. But his intention had apparently zero to do with what she was actually going to do, so he growled and flew lower. "Don't take a comlink, he'll only use it to track you. Use the Force or something. Or I'll follow the explosions to wherever you are."

Rey said nothing, and Poe couldn't see her, but he heard her hit the bulkhead impatiently.

"Okay, okay." It wasn't a good plan, but it was the best they had. "Get ready to jump and—Rey, I love you."

“I know.” Rey sighed. "I'll bring him back, I promise," she said, the edge momentarily absent from her voice. Then she rapped on the bulkhead again and the _Falcon_ swung into a hover, the ramp cranking open with excruciating slowness.

As soon as it opened enough that she wouldn't break something, Rey skidded down to the end of the ramp and jumped, dropping into a roll just like she had earlier.

"I know," Poe said, and she was gone. He didn't watch her go, but let her get out of kickback range before rocketing into the sky. There was a proper hospital in orbit around Takodana that was Resistance friendly. It wouldn't take him too long to get back.

"Sir?" Sevens said timidly from the doorway. "Reist is stable. Coni is...having a rough time, sir."

Poe sighed and punched them to hyperspace, even if it was such a short distance it would only burn unnecessary fuel.

"Thanks, Sevens. You and Torch keep an eye on them for me?"

"Yes, sir."

...

"What did you think you were here for?" Terex said, now alternating questions and shorter, sharper shocks. "What had you found out? I plug my leaks ruthlessly, Major." He laughed and paused, hearing his prisoner begin to sizzle. "I hope you didn't think you'd get anything from _me_. That's just sad."

Finn laughed, although it was a choked sound. He had definitely bitten his tongue again, and maybe his lip. Regardless, there was blood in his mouth, and he had to spit it out before he could speak. "We have what we wanted," he croaked. "Just wanted to know if gangsters were working with you. With the First Order." He almost appreciated that one of the bindings went across his chest, because it was all that was holding him up. “Answer’s yes.”

Terex laughed in return. "Darling, I could have sent you _that_ on engraved stationary. Instead we have to do this the hard way. Where did you get this information? I'm sure your precious General doesn’t keep her favorite stormtrooper on a long leash, so I know you know everything about her and her Intelligence network." He hummed, sucking the air slowly out of the chamber again, because Finn was getting too sassy. "Speaking of leashes, Phasma is going to _love_ getting you back," he said.

Finn began to gasp.

"Ah, yes, just give me the signal when you're ready to talk again, your, um, what's the delightful term, 'safeword'?" Terex laughed again. "A stormtrooper with a minor brain hemorrhage can still point a blaster and absorb enemy fire, right?" He said, waiting a few more seconds before letting air back in.

Finn focused on breathing instead of answering, because he wasn't about to tell Terex anything, and they both knew it. "You’re—not my type," he told him, "I don't date blunt weapons." He wasn't even sure this made sense or whether it was directed at the statement about Phasma or at Terex and his stupid 'safeword' joke.

Terex scoffed. "What do you call your Jedi girlfriend when she's at home, then?" he wondered, genuinely curious. "Though, no, you're right. Dameron and I are better suited to each other." He smiled. "I'll be gentle with him, I promise—oh, wait, unless it's _he_ who doesn't like it gentle? Bet the Jedi girl _loves_ that...if Ren is anything to go by, I hear they can have quite a temper…"

"I'll kill you," Finn growled. He was still pulling against his bindings, though he couldn't tell if it was helping at all or if he was just tearing his wrists to ribbons. "I'll kill you, if they don't kill you first." His head hurt. His lungs hurt, and his chest, from trying to get air when there wasn't any. His skin felt like it was burning. He could _smell_ his skin burning.

"That would be a neat trick," Terex said, and then there was a commotion, which Finn only knew about because Terex's attention was suddenly diverted, and his cell fell totally silent. "Sorry to cut this short," he said, and Finn was plunged back into darkness and silence and Terex left the oxygen level very, very low—not enough to kill him, probably, but enough to keep him unconscious or at least docile.


	7. Chapter 7

Terex didn't like to be interrupted, not when he was _working_ , certainly not with news that the useless thug he was supposed to be working with had seen the Jedi girl—had talked to her—and hadn't brought her here in binders or a bodybag. 

So after making sure FN-2187 wouldn't be conscious enough to attempt an escape, Terex stalked out of the brig into the lounge of his vessel and blaster-whipped Bala Tik in the face.

"Oi! What's the big idea—"

Terex hit him again, this time with the flat of his hand. "Are you telling me you got into a _cantina brawl_ with one of our targets, and you let her get away?!"

...

Rey had wasted no time returning to the settlement and threatening the location of a First Order ship out of a local (she'd feel bad about that later). Then she hijacked a trashed-out speeder to get there (she'd feel bad about that later, too).

She was wearing her goggles against the wind as she pushed the speeder past its limits, sand and air whipping sharp and hot against her exposed cheeks and forehead, and still the _Carrion Spike_ couldn't appear over the horizon fast enough. A plan was formulating in her mind. It wasn't a good one, but that was why she had to get _Finn_ back. He was the one who came up with the good plans. 

In a smooth motion, she let herself fall off the speeder backwards, using the Force to drop her into a harmless roll as the unmanned speeder careened into the side of the _Spike_ and exploded, rocking the huge ship, but not really damaging it. 

"Hey! Terex! Get your coward ass out here!” Rey cried, “I know you're in there, you sorry son of a Hutt. You want me so bad, come get me yourself instead of hiring the shit-for-brains local miscreants. Nerf-herding, bantha-shit-shoveling, cut-rate mercenary," she yelled.

Her plan was to get their attention, distract them into chasing her, and hopefully find some sinking sand to trap them in, and come back for Finn. As plans went, it wasn't especially well-thought-out, but she didn't have time for thinking of a better one. Not with Finn captured, especially by Terex. The Maker only knew what he was doing to him.

Besides, she was good at running in sand. And now she just had to hope _she_ was valuable enough bait for Terex to want to chase.

Second thought, she might have cut down on the theatrics. The speeder would be handy right about now... 

...

Bala Tik had barely had time to stammer out an excuse ("She looked like an upstart local! Skinny little thing, and she was disguised!" which just showed Terex how _stupid_ this man really was, but he was loyal to the Order and he could keep Jakku in line and supplies and payments running the First Order war machine, so Terex couldn't kill him...today) before they were being hailed.

And by 'hailed,' Terex meant they literally had a child throwing _and a speeder_ at their starship. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

She really was almost as bad as Ren. 

"Well?" he finally said, motioning, since no one had moved. "Go get her?"

He really was surrounded by idiots.

Terex had a full squadron of stormtroopers—or he _had_ —and he sent half out after the girl along with Bala Tik and his thugs. As they rushed out, laying down a wall of blaster cover—these lot were hand-picked by Phasma herself, and they were still next to useless—Terex calmly pulled on gloves and a helmet and followed by speeder, flanked by two more troopers on speeders.

The girl was running through the sand _on foot_. Of course she was. Terex readied his taser gun.

"Shit, shit shit," Rey said to herself, clearing the crest of one dune and half running, half sliding down the other side. She glanced up the hill and had to drop, rolling so she could jump back up and keep running. When she heard the speeders, she wasn't sure if she was glad her plan had worked so well or a little concerned.

She turned to look at her pursuers. They were gaining, so she reached out and swerved the nose of one of the speeders into the other with the Force, taking out both as well as another stormtrooper who got in the way of the shrapnel. Terex's speeder didn't go down, but it did jitter and slow him down. Rey kept running.

"Ah, damn!" Terex shouted, as he nearly lost his gun and his stability. Well, she could afford to be a bit foolish if she could use the _Force_ , he supposed, and had to remember that.

"Stay sharp," he commed back to those guarding the prisoner. "This seems like a rescue attempt." An ill-advised one, but you never know. "And send more speeders," he demanded, trying to cut her off around the next dune where she had to crest a little to go on.

Just around the sand dune, Rey saw what she was looking for. After watching for a moment, she hopped out into the bare sand and gingerly made her way out further. A few stormtroopers came around the dune and she heard the speeder going around the other way. If this didn't work, she was going to be caught in the middle...

And then one of the troopers yelled in surprise as they sank up to their knees in the sand. Their fellow troopers all stopped moving, and Rey grinned. "Never fight a scavenger on their home turf," she said to herself.

"Leave him," Terex snarled, as the stormtroopers tried to help the one who was sinking. Bala-Tik and his thugs were waiting on the edge of the ridge. "You have blasters, don't you? Shoot her!"

He and the few left on speeders continued to follow her over the sinkholes, where their hovercrafts, of course, didn't sink.

"You really didn't expect this to work, did you, my dear?" Terex said, as she drew both blaster and lightsaber and held them up defensively. "Careful. The more trouble you give me the more I take out of your boyfriend's hide," he said with a gentle chuckle.

Rey was waiting for this—sort of. She'd hoped Terex would give up, but of course he hadn't. And now he was too close for her to run. But he was just close _enough_ to reach out with the Force: not for him, but for the tail of his speeder. She wrenched it sideways and toward the other speeders, leveling her blaster at them as well and firing a few shots for good measure.

Terex cursed himself as much as he cursed the girl. He should have known better than to underestimate anyone who could manipulate the Force, but he would deal with his oversight when he'd gotten his damned speeder out of this sinking pit. Or, well, watched it sink from the patch of ostensibly safe ground he was on, with no idea where it was safe to step.

"Go after her!" he demanded, but she hopped nimbly around a sand dune and was gone, and both of the other speeders had crashed, anyway. "Mother of meteors," he grumbled, and was on his comlink: "Get me some more speeders, and _keep an eye out_! That girl is going to try to rescue the prisoner!"

…

Finn was so tired. He could barely breathe and was just barely conscious and might have been hallucinating or dreaming. It was almost pleasant, because Poe and Rey were there, even though they were arguing.

_“I’m just saying, sweetheart—”_

_Rey and Finn both winced. There was a certain way Poe said ‘sweetheart’ that was downright condescending and didn’t make them feel at all like his sweethearts._

_“—That of the two of us, one of us has an actual degree in starship operation and maintenance, has studied this stuff for years under professionals who have done this their whole lives…”_

_“Yeah, from the comfort of their Coruscanti armchairs,” Rey snapped. “None of them had to learn the ins and outs of these vessels in order to actually survive, Poe.”_

_It was a stupid thing to argue about, Finn thought, bored and wishing they would just turn the show back on, and now it was just getting personal._

_They had actually paused_ The Luke Skywalker Adventures _and kept backing it up to argue about whether that maintenance hatch should be where it was and did lead to that part of the ship or whether it was “holo magic” for the convenience of plot. Rey insisted it did, she had been through that very maintenance hatch, and could tell you that the hatch itself was the most useful part because if you shifted it just right, you could remove it to get the blast-proofed durasteel plating off and that was worth at least two portions. Poe insisted they had moved the hatch (and where it led) for convenience of plot because they needed Mara Jade to escape and warn Luke._

_Then Poe had gotten defensive because “You can’t bring up Jakku every time you want to be right,” and because, Finn knew, Rey did know a lot about starships and it made Poe insecure because “I wrote my thesis on Imperial gunships, sweetheart,” and while Poe could in general be gracious about most things, he really didn’t like to be wrong about starships._

_“Yeah, but you’ve never actually been inside one,” Rey growled._

_“Excuse me?” Poe blinked. “I could write a dissertation on just their holding cells, actually, thanks. Unless you’re forgetting my very up-close and personal experiences with them?"_ _This wasn’t about starships anymore._

_“Did you forget_ mine _?!” Rey cried, her voice shrill. Her hand was flying and Poe was flinching before Finn intervened._

 _Finn grabbed her wrist, and said “Hey,” very firmly, and Rey gasped, looking from Finn to Poe, Poe who looked_ scared _, until his vision seemed to clear, and so did Rey’s, and they were both apologizing at once:_

_“I’m sorry, you’re right, I really did just strip them for parts, I don’t even know the names of most of them or how they work, really…”_

_“No, I’m sorry, I don’t know the first thing about the insides of any one of these birds the way you do—”_

_“I don’t even like talking about Jakku, I didn’t mean to guilt you—”_

_“I’m such a callous bastard, I’m sorry, Rey. I didn’t mean to imply your trauma matters less than mine…”_

_“Guys,” Finn said, having pulled up one of Poe’s books on his datapad, which Poe had obviously forgotten about if he had ever read, that showed how the holo program gave quite an accurate representation of the Emperor’s ship. “You’re both right. The hatch is wrong in the holo: it’s where Poe says it is but it leads where Rey says it does. Also, the hatch door_ is _blast-proofed like Rey said.” He stared between them._

_They both looked embarrassed._

_“You see, there are these handy things called manuals…I know I’m the only person in the galaxy who reads these…”_

_“Shut up,” Poe said, and laughed, and Rey shoved him._

_“Kiss and make up?” he told them, and they did._

“They’re both right,” Finn mumbled to himself. He had to get out of these manacles and find that hatch.

It took Finn a long time to think through anything, and this certainly wasn’t anything he had ever read in a manual. There was something about the catches on these old Imperial bindings... What was it? You turned your wrist—no, it wasn't that. Pulled and twisted? No, that just hurt. What was it? He paused and rather than pulling, bought himself enough room to jiggle his wrist in the binding on his right arm. It squeaked and he felt it moving the more he shook his wrist.

And then, suddenly, it fell off. There was no dramatic sound of the binding catch opening, but one half came loose and freed his arm. Then he rested, gathering his strength to free his other arm and his body and legs.

The first thing he did was retrieve the lock pick that was in the seam of his regulation undershirt—the only clothing he they left him in other than his underwear, probably for just this reason. Joke’s on them, and next time they’d probably take his underwear, too, but if all went well there would be no next time. He used the pick to pry free the latches on the other bindings and leaned heavily on the chair for a long time. But there was something else he needed to do, something that had to do with that earlier memory and the maintenance hatch.

He had wondered why there were maintenance hatches in the old Imperial ship brigs and interrogation rooms, like, that seemed like a crucial design flaw, but this time he didn't care why it was there—only that it was: just where the manual said it was, almost as obviously placed as the one in the _Luke Skywalker Adventures_. He felt around the low ceiling for the edges and, finding it, pried at it until it came loose with a rush of precious, wonderful, life-giving air. He gasped desperately until his head cleared. Once he had enough oxygen, thinking was easy, and so was escaping: he pulled himself up the maintenance hatch into the ceiling and made his way to the exterior portions of the ship. When he found what seemed to be an abandoned hall, he waited several minutes and then lowered himself quietly down.


	8. Chapter 8

UM-3554 was supposed to be going off duty, but no one was going off-duty when that girl was loose and they had a prisoner to guard, so she shifted and sighed, waiting and watching. 

But UM-3554 was guarding the _kitchens,_ and no one was going to come this way, she thought, removing her helmet. She could maybe scarf down a ration bar—maybe try a dram of Terex’s fancy whisky before anyone noticed…

“Shit! Who are—” the stormtrooper yelped when she turned around to find a half-naked man dropping down from the ventilation shaft. “Oh.” No, she was pretty sure that was the _prisoner_ , actually. How had he gotten out? She raised her blaster, feeling a little naked without her mask.

They stared at one another for a few tense moments. 

Maybe this was her chance.

“I want to come with you,” she blurted out, lowering her weapon before he did anything crazy. He looked a little wild-eyed.

Finn was in a hurry. He didn't have time to read this trooper the riot act, but he wasn't stupid, either. "Fine. Blaster," he said, and she handed it over. He managed a smile. "You first," he said, and gestured politely for her to lead the way because, again, not stupid, even if he did feel like he was slogging through mud every time he tried to think.

"Okay, okay, we—shouldn’t go this way," she hissed. "I'm serious, my whole squad is that way. But if we can get out the cargo hold, I—we heard a lot about you, Eight-Seven. You're famous." UM-3554 gave him a friendly smile before leading him through some silent hallways and out the back of the ship. "Here we go," she said, opening a back hatch and flooding the hold with light and heat. "You want me to go first?"

"Rey and Poe will kill us both if they find out I led and you followed," Finn said. "I mean, not literally! Anyway—you lead, I'll follow, and if for some reason people start shooting, I'll cover you." It was only fair, since she was unarmed.

"Okay," UM-3554 said, shimmying out of the hatch, her armor catching on a few places before she dropped to the sand. "All clear!" she reported, since the guards were mostly at the entrance of the _Carrion Spike_ , but— "Sentry will be coming around any minute now, hurry!"

Finn didn't have to be told twice. With a minimum of clumsy flailing, Finn followed his guide, motioning at her to go as far and as fast as she needed to—he’d keep up.

"Get down!" the stormtrooper suddenly hissed, pushing Finn down to roll under the ship just as the sentry hooked around the aft side of the _Carrion Spike_ and began his long walk down the port side, feet depressing in the sand at each step. "That's JC—he would try to stop us," she whispered, nodding at the currently oblivious trooper, before going totally silent as they waited for him to pass.

Finn hunkered down where he was, in no mood for fighting to escape if he didn't have to. But the sentry passed without spotting them, and Finn blessed the blind spots in those stupid helmets.

His rescuer had to help him up when he tried to stand too fast and nearly tipped over, though. "Sorry," he mumbled as she gave him her shoulder to lean on. "Long day. Let's get out of here," he added once he was standing on his own. He felt like he'd been run over by a few speeders, which was probably unsurprising given that he'd been shocked and suffocated multiple times today. He just wanted to lie down and sleep.

"You okay?" UM-3554 checked. "I've got water and food in my belt." But Finn waved her off and looked around. "I think..." she began. "Well, I don't know where you're trying to take us, but the sinking sands are that way. So I don't want to go that way."

Finn shook his head in agreement. "Yes, let's not go that way. I think we need to go..." he looked around for the sun and what he hoped was the right direction. "That way. The rendezvous is supposed to be out this way." He clapped her on the shoulder with his free hand, since the other was still holding her blaster.

"We'll have to run for it. If we can't get far enough out before we can get hidden, they'll see us and—" she looked at Finn solemnly. "I want you to shoot me if it looks like they'll take us."

Finn's heart hurt at that, and he gave the trooper a reassuring smile. "They won't be taking anyone. Rey and Poe will hopefully be here soon enough, and it'll take more than a few stormtroopers to stop them getting to us," he told her. He didn't mention that if they didn't show up, he had no intention of being taken off this planet alive to be reprogrammed and used against his friends. He didn't even want to think about that, not now. Rey and Poe would come back. They'd find them.

They ran, at a full sprint for longer than a full sprint was really healthy, but they crested a dune and were down the other side before anyone spotted them. UM-3554 collapsed to the sand, gasping. She could tell Finn wanted to do the same, for how he was shaking. "Sorry, sir. Just need a—just a second." She tilted her head back, gasping.

"It's okay," Finn said, taking advantage of the momentary halt to rest his hands on his knees and catch his breath. His whole _body_ was screaming... "You alright?" he asked the stormtrooper once he could breathe properly again. Since she was still on the ground, he held his hand out to help her up. "D'you have a name you want us to call you? You don't have to," he told her, "You can use your number if you'd prefer, or a nickname. Anything, really. You can call me Finn."

"Thanks," she said, accepting the hand up, "can I call you 'Traitor'?"

UM-3554 was smiling, still holding his hand, and she said it so brightly that Finn didn't register what was happening until she pulled a vibrodagger out from under her utility belt and plunged it into Finn's side.

"You can't be so stupid as to think you can 'save' us all, Eight-Seven," she hissed, and left the dagger inside him to punch him in the throat, grappling for the blaster.

She was getting a promotion whether she brought him back dead or alive.

Under unexpected attack, Finn did what any stormtrooper would do—he elbowed the woman in the face and yanked the blaster away before firing. At this range, he couldn't miss, and his first shot glanced off her shoulder. The second hit he aimed better—it hit her in the chest and burned through her heart.

He dropped to the sand and gasped for air, his throat and side burning at every attempt for oxygen. Before he could think too hard, he pawed at the knife and yanked it out with a strangled yell.

 _Alright_ , Finn told himself after several minutes of just laying there in the hot sand, under the hot sun, the dead trooper's body just next to him. _Alright. You gotta get up._ It took three tries but he got to his feet. _Walk now. Pick a direction. Find your family._ He limped a few steps and nearly fell, his breath coming in rapid gasps and tears springing up his eyes. Where was Rey? Where was Poe? _Get home to them. Get home. Get home to Sammy._ He took a steadying breath and focused on one step at a time, wandering in no direction particularly, with no explanation for where he was going except a gut feeling he felt he should keep going.

…

The inside of the _Carrion Spike_ was suffocating, especially inside its maintenance tunnels and engines. In the interest of staying hidden, Rey was sticking to these, and to the less populated halls, which were clearly not benefiting from the climate control that cooled the rest of the ship. Having to retreat behind a panel that eventually led nowhere when a patrol came by, Rey was sweating and tired, and she wasn't getting anywhere fast—not as far as she wanted to.

She was sorely tempted to take care of the patrol the old-fashioned way, except then the whole ship would know she was here. And if they knew she was here, they'd either catch her or hurt Finn. Or both...

Rey had just found a new hatch that might actually lead her somewhere before she heard the two stormtroopers patrolling this hall talking:

"Yeah, Five-Four bugged out, too. Maybe she went with him."

"Ha! That megalomaniacal bitch? She probably wants to get him back to Phasma herself."

Rey ducked back into the engine, holding her breath.

"Either way, Terex won't be happy. You wanna tell him?"

"Kriff, no. Let _him_ open up the containment and find Eight-Seven gone. I'll be...not here. That's begging to be spaced."

"Yeah. Likely to get KRUBAR'd if we stick around."

"Yeah. Ha. I'll be in the break room, enjoying hot coffee and fresh donuts, thanks."

Rey still thought the things that stormtroopers found funny was weird, but her heart soared. _Finn had escaped!_  Of course he had! She was going to kiss him senseless, that brave, gorgeous man, when she got him safe and sound. Now she just had to find him, before Terex found out he was gone...


	9. Chapter 9

Finn didn't fully know where he was until he tripped and fell face-first into the sand. He lay there in confusion, bleeding, burning, gasping, until pain from the heat forced him to struggle up.

He had tripped over part of an old AT-AT.

It was so incongruous with the sand that he just stared in confusion. Everything was confusing right now. He was still hoping this was an embarrassing nightmare he would wake up from, because he was somehow back on Jakku with no trousers or shoes.

There was shade here, leaning against the AT-AT, and he didn't feel like going any further. The gut feeling telling him where to go had vanished, and he was beginning to think he had imagined it. He used the leg part that he had tripped over to get to his feet, and stumbled around until he found a hole. It wasn’t until he crawled inside that he realized someone had lived here. It had been picked over for anything usable or tradable, but there were broken things and things that could be neither used nor sold left here, abandoned. There was a pile of rags that to him looked like a king's bed right now. He dropped there and curled into an exhausted ball and stared at the “door.” Now that he was still, and not currently on fire, he just wanted to sleep. His side was an indistinct, throbbing pain that bled through his shirt, and his bare feet were burned and scraped from the sand.

In his line of sight was a confusing thing: it looked like a doll made by clumsy hands, or else he was just that dizzy. He reached a hand out and pawed it closer to look at. He smeared it with blood.

It was supposed to be a pilot. Orange jumpsuit and everything. There was a long hair caught on it, probably from the previous owner, and he picked it off distractedly. Rey had mentioned a doll once, one she'd made to keep her company in the trackless loneliness of her childhood, and left behind when they fled Jakku.

This was _Rey's_ AT-AT.

In an endless desert, his gut—okay, or the Force, probably—had led him to the closest thing to home he could have found. He buried his face against the doll and then held it close to his chest, and tried not to cry away the very little water left in his body, but it worked as well as if he had tried to stop bleeding.

…

Rey heard the wind roaring before she was fully out of the _Carrion Spike_. Even Agent Terex's rage couldn't outmatch this sandstorm. The storm would cover Finn's tracks, and Terex would have to wait before searching for Finn, so that was good.

But Rey would have to wait, too.

There was a time, when she was just a scavenger, when she was no one, that she would not have thought twice about staying holed up until the storm passed. Even hiding here in the exhaust port of one of the engines was safer. It would be suicide to go out in this. She'd be cut to ribbons or drown on dry land or pulled into a tornado and dropped to her death.

But Rey wasn't a scavenger anymore. She wasn't _no one_ anymore. She was training with a Jedi. She had fought Kylo Ren—twice. She had handled worse and lived. She was strong, and (when her fiancés weren't in trouble) she was smart. She was Finn's betrothed, and nothing would keep her from him, not if she had to crawl. She had her goggles, and she pulled a scarf over her nose and mouth, and she dropped into the sand. Immediately she was knocked into the hull by the force of the sand and wind pelting her, and she had to use the Force like a bubble of protection around her to see where the sun was, and which way—

But of course she couldn't see anything. The storm was that bad. Maybe she should wait it out, after all. She could go the wrong way and never find Finn—

Finn who was out there, alone, probably without shelter.

Rey picked a direction and ploughed through, trusting the Force to guide her, or at least dumb luck. Certainly, they were owed some of that. Finn certainly wasn't _here_ , and she had to find him before Terex did.

…

In Rey's AT-AT, Finn heard the howling before the storm started blowing the sand around outside. It came in a little through the small hole that acted as its door, but for the most part the wind was blowing against the back of the AT-AT and not the belly. Of _course_ Rey had maintained an entrance that faced away from the prevailing winds...

Since he was going to be here for awhile, he dug out one of the rags he was laying on and wadded it up. His shirt was in the way, so he pulled it up and pressed the rag to the stab wound in his side.

It _hurt_ , and he was probably going to get some awful disease from these old rags, but that was less immediate than bleeding to death. So he rolled over, to keep the rag pressed against the wound in case he passed out from the combined shittiness that was this entire kriffing trip. He didn't care if Leia busted him down to the lowest infantryman, he didn’t care if Poe, Rey, Sam, and BB-8 all begged him to—if he ever got off this damn sand heap, he was _never_ coming back.

…

It was tough going, staggering through deepening sands and sharp wind that scored strips of skin where it showed, but Rey went on, using the Force to propel her forward or to shove the wind back, but it was exhausting to keep up. Still, something led her on, in spite of the storm, and any moment she expected to see over the next dune a huddled figure, or to trip over something buried in the sand. She wouldn't entertain the idea that she might miss him, or that he had gone a different way. That didn't bear thinking about. Finn was counting on her. Poe was counting on her to find him. She would lose them both if she lost Finn, she knew that, and panic began building to a crescendo in her until something stood out on the horizon—something buried in the sand, and for a split-second her scavenger heart surged in hope— _parts, food_ —before she remembered: that wasn’t her anymore, she was looking for Finn, not parts, and— _oh_ —

That was _her_ AT-AT. She almost laughed at the sight, at what had been her _home_ for so many years. Now she had—well, if she couldn't find Finn, nothing else she had compared to then mattered.

Rey crept inside cautiously, refusing to cough, though clean air was a nice change. It was just as likely someone hostile had taken shelter here as Finn, and she didn't want to be caught not being vigilant.

But in spite of her worry, somehow, miraculously, there was Finn.

Actually, she had noticed all the blood, first, and that had been alarming until she saw Finn's huddled form.

He was—it was a strange sense of deja vu with which she viewed the scene, her new and old lives colliding. He was lying in her bed, holding her doll, half-dressed as if for bed. But there was so much blood. What had Terex done to him? Was he even alive?

"Finn?" she whispered, not wanting to startle him, her voice so soft she could tell herself Finn hadn't heard her and that was why he hadn’t stirred, he definitely wasn't dead...

Finn thought he heard someone moving around, but he didn't think about moving until he heard his name. He knew that voice. And he should really let Rey know he wasn't dead, because she sounded scared.

"Rey?" he said softly, but didn't move because he was still trying to stop his side bleeding. He did manage to open his eyes and hold his free hand out toward Rey, wanting her closer where he could reassure himself he wasn't hallucinating.

"Finn! Oh stars, Finn," she gasped, dropping to her knees beside him. "Finn, love, what—did they, what—you’re bleeding, Finn!"

They had only been separated a few hours, and he looked half-dead. He wasn't even wearing clothes, stripped down to underwear. His feet were bleeding. His skin was dull and shone with sweat. He felt cold.

"Finn, Finn, it’s all right, love, I'm here, I can—" she gulped. "I'm gonna get you out of this." She just had to keep them safe until Poe arrived. "Can you roll over for me, love? I've got this," she said, her hand going to the filthy bandage. Ugh. She had bacta and sterile bandages in her pack, which she swung around to get open.

"Terex," Finn answered by way of explaining what had happened. He rolled onto his back and let Rey keep pressure on the wound, though he didn't quite move his hand, just to help. "He wanted information," he added when she turned around. (How could he explain the part with the shocking and the suffocating without really upsetting Rey? There was probably no way. He'd do it later.) "He didn’t do this, though,” he indicated the gut wound. “How'd you find me?" he asked.

"How'd _you_ find my old home?" Rey said, with an embarrassed laugh. Finn winced as she pressed a bacta patch to his side, but there was no telling what was wrong in there, besides the huge amount of blood he had clearly lost. Had any of his organs been damaged? Was he dying and she had no idea how to help him? Could she use the Force to put him back together?

"Terex won't be coming after us any time soon," Rey said with confidence. "Not until the storm passes. By then Poe will be back. He had to get Coni to a hospital, but I think she'll be okay. Reist, too." She frowned as she unrolled her blanket and laid it over Finn, who was shivering slightly now. "That's not a blaster wound." She began gingerly applying bacta to Finn's feet.

"No," Finn agreed. "Got stabbed. She…a stormtrooper. Said she wanted to come with me. But." He winced as she started tending to his feet. It tickled, because of course it did, but it tickled like perhaps a burn would tickle, a raw sort of feeling. It didn't hold much of a candle to his side on top of everything else, but he couldn't help twitching.

"My gut told me where to go," he told her.

"That's...really?" she said. Maybe Finn was more Force sensitive than they all thought. "Sorry," she added, interrupted suddenly by Finn's feet recoiling. "Okay, it's all right. Be still. I—oh, Finn!" she exclaimed, seeing Finn clutching her pilot doll, like he was willing it to bring him some comfort (like she had willed it to bring her some, for so many years). "I can't believe it survived all this time." It wasn't nearly as embarrassing as the endless tick marks on the wall.

"I’m glad it did." He had no intentions of leaving the doll here. It was the only reason he'd finally realized where he was. He sighed tiredly and let his eyes close, and for awhile he just drifted, somewhere between awake and unconscious. He was cold, but he was resolutely not shivering because it hurt worse than tensing to stop it did.

Rey knew that Finn craved touch at the best of times, and though it didn't come naturally to her, she touched him, gentle touches that had nothing to do with tending his wounds, and spoke to him, gentle words that were louder than the storm outside. She held his head to help him drink some water—as much as he was able to keep down—and she brushed droplets off his beautiful lips with her fingertips, and followed with a kiss. "Do you think you could eat?" she asked, though he was clearly having trouble swallowing past the bruises on his windpipe. "I love you, Finn," she said, brushing her palm over his brow.

Finn shook his head in a very certain 'no' to the possibility of eating anything. The water had been painful enough to swallow, and his stomach was still unsure it wanted to deal with anything in it at all. "I love you, too," he said quietly, turning his head to her hand. "Tired," he told her, though he didn't want or think he could really sleep. "Wake in—hour?" He was economizing on words now—speaking was not terrifically comfortable either, but at least he _could_ if he wanted to. He reached for the closest article of Rey's clothing he could reach and tugged at it softly in request for her to be closer to him, because he turned into a clinging Ewok whether he was merely sleepy or in agony... But all three of them already knew that.

"Are you concussed?" Rey asked, sliding down to lay beside him, but he shook his head. Of all the things that had happened to him today, he actually hadn’t hit his head. She nodded and kissed his cheek, deciding he could sleep. He _should_ sleep.

Rey couldn't really meditate like this, but she would try to ease some of Finn's pain—try to lift it, or share it with him if that didn't work. She was too afraid to try healing him with the Force. "I've got you. We'll sleep through the storm and then...see what we can do after. I'll try to reach Poe." She leaned in to kiss his temple, and was reminded, suddenly, of kissing his temple before she left him unconscious on D'Qar. She wasn't leaving him this time, she said, and tucked an arm around his side to hold the bacta patch gently against him. "Rest, okay, Finn?"

Finn breathed a soft, relieved sigh as Rey stretched out next to him, and would have almost been comfortable if not for the particulars of the situation. He nodded and shut his eyes, letting his mind wander where it would (unless it tried to go back to where he'd just been) and half-sleeping. He might not be comfortable, but he was as content as he could be.

Rey leaned into Finn and laid her other hand on his brow, holding it there while she counted her breaths, trying to ignore the wind whistling around the AT-AT, the sand being carved out around it. They would be visible from space when this stopped...so at least Poe would see them.

But so could Terex.

She sighed and pushed these thoughts away, focusing on Finn. On the sharp pain that made him feel raw and made her feel angry. That anger would make it easier to put him back together—like a child building a doll, but her resolve was so weak where her boys were concerned, and Finn was not a doll, and she was not a doctor.

Rey focused on her love, instead, how she admired Finn, how strong he was, and how noble, how strong he must have been throughout—and she balked at his memories of the past few hours, and he didn't want to share them, so she didn't pry—how he protected _her_ and how now she was protecting him. And she could ease those aches, dull that pain, breathing slowly, helping him to rest and feel safe, which helped her feel more centered, too. And once he was resting, she reached out further—

 _Poe_.

...

"Do you need us to stay with Coni and Reist, or do you want us going back with you, sir?" Torch was asking, stroking his spikes nervously. The soldiers were still in surgery, and Poe was pacing endlessly, torn between his duty as an officer and his duty as a fiancé.

"One of us could stay," Sevens offered.

Poe bit his lip. First Order sympathizers could be anywhere. "No, I—" he sighed. "I can’t leave you guys here without an escape. We'll wait. We don't even know where Rey and Finn—ahh," he grunted, and put a hand to his side.

"Sir, are you all right?"

"Um, yeah. Just got like a cramp or something, forget it. I don't know when I've last had water. Say, have you guys—oh, kriff," Poe gasped, and went suddenly down like he had been punched in the gut, as visions flashed behind his eyes.

_A doll in a pilot's uniform. Looking down at Finn. Finn who lay with a bloodied bandage at his side. An old Imperial AT-AT being slowly uncovered in a sandstorm._

And as quickly as it came, it was over, and Poe stood up.

"Commander!" Sevens cried.

"Sevens, Torch, stay with the team. We'll pick you up on the way back."

"But—weren’t you—you’re not hurt?"

"Fine. I’m fine." Probably a Force vision, no reason to worry them. "Com me if there's any news," he told Torch, and then he was running back to the docking bay. Poe knew where Rey and Finn were, and Poe had a plan. It wasn’t a good one, but…

…

Rey awoke some time later when the silence replaced the roar of the sandstorm. Finn was still next to her, his eyes closed and breathing shallow. He didn't shift when she jostled his shoulder, but when she sat up and moved he squeezed his eyes shut tighter.

"The storm has stopped," she whispered to him, and kissed his temple. "Poe will find us soon." Finn finally opened his eyes and looked at her, but he didn't seem to be focusing entirely. "Here—more water." She helped him drink, frowning deeply when he winced and took only a small sip.

…

"Sir, we've found the body of UM-3554. It appears the prisoner killed her with her own blaster," the stormtrooper reported. "But we have a direction he headed in."

"Good," Terex said, logging the suspicious dead stormtrooper away to ask Phasma about later (if Phasma was trying to double-cross him, he'd be most upset). "Get out there on speeders and I'll follow in the ship. We had better find him."


	10. Chapter 10

Rey waited until she was positive the low buzzing outside wasn’t a sandstorm before waking Finn. She wasn’t about to be besieged in an ancient AT-AT.

"Finn, hey Finn. I'm sorry—we have to go," Rey said, nudging his shoulder and sitting up, as Finn struggled to awareness. "I'll help you, but we have to go," Rey told him. He let her pull him up so he was sitting, and then held his breath as she stood and pulled him up to his feet. He couldn't help gasping as he tried to find a comfortable way to stand and found there was none. "Your feet, I forgot—" Rey started, but Finn set his jaw.

"I’m fine. Let's go," he said, and Rey nudged up under his shoulder to take as much of his weight as she could, feeling him tremble against her side. The buzzing outside grew louder and she led them from the AT-AT to crouch by the front legs of the old metal monster. It had been completely exposed by the sandstorm, but they were still sheltered. Rey stood to see how close the speeders she'd heard were and found that they were moving to surround them—and a lower hum, barely audible, further out, probably meant the _Carrion Spike_ was on its way, too.

Speeders she could handle, but not an Imperial gunship.

Rey left the safety of the AT-AT shooting wildly, laying down cover fire (or trying, blasters _were_ an inelegant weapon) as she dragged Finn behind her until they could hide behind the foot, letting Finn sit as she laid her hands on the hull of the old Imperial vessel. "Don't lean on it, and—let me in your head, please. I've never lifted anything this heavy and I might—need—" It was no different than lifting stones, Master Luke had said, when your ally was the Force.

But Finn was looking at her like she was insane.

He let her in his head gladly—but then suggested as strongly as he could that crashing the _Carrion Spike_ rather than destroying their only cover might be a tactically better plan? He really needed the AT-AT to lean on, right now, and if they could take the _Carrion Spike_ out, if Rey really could throw it to the ground, maybe they could take out Terex and some of his guards. It was probably worth a try.

"Oh," Rey said audibly, though she didn't need to, and shifted her focus from the hulking scrap metal to the starship careening towards them. It was simple physics, using gravity or fighting against it—although, also fighting against propulsion engines, but...

Rey concentrated carefully, centering herself—easily done with Finn there—and, _oh_ —

"Poe's on his way," she whispered to Finn, and pulled her fist down, bringing the _Carrion Spike_ 's unwieldy nose into the sand with a screeching and wrenching of metal and sand going up in explosive plumes. It was actually surprisingly more catastrophic than she expected, sending stormtroopers pitching off their speeders and diving for cover as Rey flung herself over Finn.

And like he had timed it just to be dashing and heroic, Poe hit atmo with a loud boom and was careening towards them hot enough that the _Falcon_ was glowing.

"Finn, hold onto me, love," Rey said over the explosions and sonic booms and zipping speeders, and pulled Finn forward against her. "I've got you," she said, and there was groaning metal behind him, and blaster fire behind her and above both of them, and he clung to her and shut his eyes. The AT-AT creaked to its feet, because with Finn and Poe both close enough she could—she could—

She turned, flinging out a hand almost casually, and what was once her home slammed through a squad of stormtroopered speeders and into the moored _Carrion Spike_.

Poe was sure he was going to be too late, and then he felt Rey's presence inside his mind, and then the battle was over. Like, _over_. Terex's ship had slammed into the sand, and for a split-second Poe wondered what cut-rate was flying the damned thing before he realized _oh gods that was Rey, Rey did that_ , and the AT-AT had slammed into it, and once he was close enough to see, there were no small figures left alive except Rey and Finn—thank gods, she had him—and a few stragglers now attempting to flee. Poe landed with his forward torpedoes pointed at the _Spike_ and flicked the doors open.

"Save something for me to do, next time, sweetheart," he said over the amplified speakers. "All aboard! I'm keeping an eye on these jokers and a hand on the trigger."

Finn buried his face against Rey's shoulder as she pulled him to his feet. Poe was there with the _Falcon_ , and they were struggling up the ramp, _home_. Rey was practically carrying him by the time they reached the top, and once the ramp started cranking up, he gave up walking entirely and dropped. His feet _hurt_ and his side _hurt_ so he was going to stay right here because this was a comfortable floor and there was no danger of Terex coming after them.

"Rey? Guys?" Poe said, when he didn't hear anything but readings told him they were on board.

"Here," Rey said, sounding faint.

 _Shit, was she hurt, too_? Poe decided to skip the victory lap and strafing run in favor of bugging the hell out. He programmed the flight to the medical center and rushed to the back, calling for them.

Rey was on the ground, curled around a fallen Finn, and she was having trouble focusing.

“Take care of Finn,” she gasped. “I’m okay.”

Poe didn't need much more encouragement, because Finn's side was bloody and his feet were bloody and he was gasping for air and squeezing his eyes shut like he was trying not to cry.

"Okay, okay, Finn, buddy, you with me? Come on, my guy, let me—there," he grunted, lifting Finn as carefully as he could. "Let's get you taken care of, okay? Can you give me a report, sweetheart?" It was a good thing the _Falcon_ was small, because it was that much shorter a distance to the medbay. Poe immediately hooked up an oxygen mask and fit it over Finn's nose and mouth and covered him with a warm blanket before getting the medkit out—it was appallingly lacking after their last two emergencies.

"I didn'tell 'm 'nything," Finn said, not because he thought Poe would think he had, but because he wanted to reassure him. He shifted on the—whatever surface this was. Probably it was in the _Falcon_ 's little half-medbay. This surface was not comfortable like their bed, and his side was throbbing again from having run up the ramp.

" _Finn_ ," Poe began, almost angrily, because that wasn't what he meant and he didn't care if Finn gave Terex the access code to his own bedroom if Finn was all right. But Finn was in pain and in no condition to talk, so Poe softened and leaned down to kiss his brow. "Okay, never mind, darling," he said, wrapping a cold pack in a towel and tucking it around his neck, where there were dark bruises. "Gonna look at this one now..." he said, using a medical scanner to tell him what he couldn't tell just by looking at the wound in his side: internal organ damage—though he wasn't actively leaking bile into his guts, so that was good. Poe changed the bacta on it, which would hold until they could get him into surgery. "Easy, bud, this is just something for the pain, I'll be right here. Only knocking you out so I can take a look at your feet," he teased, rubbing the spot where he gave Finn a heavy dose of pain killers, enough to make him loopy.

Finn managed a small smile at the implication that even in his current state, he'd have accidentally kicked Poe for tending to his feet.

"Not far to the hospital, Finno, hang in there for me," Poe hummed, petting his hair and rubbing a soothing thumb over his brow until the creases began to lessen.

That Poe had given him a painkiller didn't even register—he wouldn't have known if Poe hadn't told him. Maybe he would have noticed once he started getting dizzy and confused, his eyes practically crossing until he shut them. He didn't like being so disoriented, but it was preferable to feeling something _wrong_ in his side where he'd been stabbed. He couldn't even tell if he was still holding the doll, or if he'd somehow dropped it between the AT-AT and here. More to the point, he no longer had any way to judge if he was worse or better than five minutes ago. "How bad?" he tried to ask, but it came out as an unintelligible mumble.

"Hm?" Poe said, and leaned down, but Finn didn't try again. "You're okay, my buddy, you're gonna be okay. Let me just—" he didn't bother finishing his sentence as he worked his way down Finn's body, trailing fingertips down the length of him so Finn would know he wasn't alone.

Rey staggered in while he was easing a clean towel under Finn's feet.

"You all right?" he asked her.

Rey nodded. She sat heavily in a chair and leaned against Finn's bed, and didn't say anything. She was glad she hadn’t tried to heal him before, and she certainly didn’t have the strength to help him now. Not after throwing an AT-AT at a starship, anyway. It made her head hurt just thinking about it.

Poe washed Finn's feet as thoroughly as he dared and patched them up with bacta bandages before going to Rey and pulling her into a hug. "I'm proud of you, sweetheart," he said. He reached up to wipe some blood from her nose.

"Really?" Rey said. She had thought she was going to be chastised.

"Of course," he said. That was all he needed to say.

"You just stay here with Finn. I'm gonna bring you guys some juice, okay?"

When Poe left the medbay, Rey reached under the blanket to take Finn's hand.

"Hey. You held onto it," she murmured, uncurling his fingers from the pilot doll that he still clutched. "You want to keep holding onto it?"

Finn was pretty sure he nodded, but apparently not, because Rey gently pried the little doll from his hand. She set it on his chest, though, and brought his hand up to rest gently over it. She interlaced her fingers with his and he mumbled and blinked his eyes open as far as he could, given that he was stoned out of his mind on painkillers. "You're okay," Rey told him softly, but she looked so worried. He wanted to kiss that look from her face.

"You're both okay," Poe said, returning with two pouches of juice, cold and thirst-quenching and energy-replenishing. He stuck the straw in one and gave it to Rey, and only once he was sure she could hold it, did he help move the mask from Finn's face and lift his head to sip. "Can you drink some of this, buddy? Make you feel better." He adjusted the cool pack on Finn's neck, glad to see no swelling. "I can IV you, too, just thought you'd want to try the traditional way," he said with a smile.

Poe kept his voice careful and quiet, so that they would know that everything was perfectly under control and that they would be all right—though he had his reservations about all of the above. "Hey, now, what's this?" he asked, looking at the little doll that rested on Finn's chest. "Buddies, I only left you for a few hours and you’ve made a replacement-me?" he teased softly. The doll of course _didn't_ look like him, it was just a pilot-doll, Rebellion era, if he had to guess, homemade.

"It's from my—where I lived," Rey said. "I made it when I was—younger."

She sounded so defensive, like she was embarrassed and had to explain herself, that Poe tutted and pulled her into a hug. He tried not to think about young Rey, so alone she literally had to make her own toys. He wondered why a pilot? Was it a vision of young Luke? Did she have stories about the Rebellion on Jakku? Was a pilot what she wanted to be when she got older?

"It's cute," he said, continuing to keep his voice easy and light. "Think you could make one for me? Stick it in the dash of _Black One_ and it can go piloting with me everywhere."

Rey drank her juice and smiled, gaze resting on the tattered, dirty old doll. "Yeah, I'll make you one. Soon as we get home," she said. "Do you think Sam would like one? I could make him one of each of us." She'd considered giving him this one, but it was probably better if she made him a new one that _wasn't_ covered in gods-knew-what kind of Jakku nastiness.

Finn was drifting further, and he hoped it was just the painkillers Poe had given him, but he couldn't be sure. His side was starting to hurt _through_ said painkiller—but they were going to be to the hospital soon, Poe had said. He just had to hold it together that long, and then they'd—well—fix everything. Hell, modern medicine and bacta had repaired his severed spine, so a mere stab wound should be nothing at all.

"I think Sam would love one," Poe said. "Anything you made. Maybe make one of him, since we'll be hard-pressed to buy him dolls that are missing the lower left arm." He gentled Finn as he tensed again, petting his arm and scratching it ever so gently. "Need some more painkillers, bud?" He asked, re-fitting the mask. "Need some more saline, anyway, let's get you taken care of. Gonna sleep straight through to the hospital and wake up feeling 100% better, huh?" He said, keeping up the litany of encouragements until Finn's eyes closed.

…

It was a quiet ride back to the med center, with Finn in and out and Rey so weak she fell asleep in the middle of a sentence more than once. There was a flurry when they landed, but luckily Poe had already charmed the nurses from earlier that day (had they really been on a shift that long? Poe wondered, and then realized that it was the next _day_ and they had gone home to their families and slept and come back to work during this time) to not ask too many questions, so they took Finn into surgery and looked Rey over for any problems. She showed no signs of injury, just exhaustion, and Poe sat with her, wrapped in a blanket and drinking some cocoa.

When Finn was out of surgery and stable, and Reist was awake enough to walk and Coni was stable and even had her eyes open, Poe had Torch and Sevens load them back onto the _Falcon_. They were in danger here, and they were endangering the lives of everyone who worked here, the longer they stayed. It wouldn't take Terex long to track them, even if his ship was buried under an AT-AT.

"That was awesome, by the way," Poe said, when he, Rey, and Sevens were gathered in the cockpit, Torch taking his turn playing nurse. "Sevens, you should have seen her. She picked up the AT-AT and _threw_ it at him, like it was a toy." He smiled and squeezed Rey's hand as she blushed. "Gotta admire a woman who will stop at nothing to protect her husbands."

"Not for another few months yet," Rey reminded him. “Technically.”

"Ugh, I'm bored of calling you my fiancée. The novelty of 'affianced' has worn off, too. Sevens, when you and Jess get married, you should totally elope. No long engagement. It’s frustrating."

"I'll remember that, sir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We thought we should leave things on a slightly happier note for Christmas Eve! Happy holidays, everyone!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a note unrelated to the following chapter, like _Star Wars_ fans everywhere, we are shattered by the news of Carrie Fisher's death. We want to assure everyone (and ourselves) that General-Princess Leia Organa has no plans to die at any point during _Stars and Skies_ , but will live to a ripe old age and knit things for her grandkids. 
> 
> May Carrie rest in peace, drowned in moonlight and strangled by her own bra.

Rey couldn’t eat or sleep enough on the way back. She was exhausted, and hungry when she wasn’t sleeping, and worried about Finn—but Finn was sedated, anyway, so it was very tempting to just…sleep next to him. The Force really took it out of her this time.

When they landed on D'Qar, Poe had caught only a few hours sleep between piloting and keeping an eye on Finn, Coni, and Reist, and he wasn't in great condition to give the After-Action Report, but he did his best to give his point of view, and explained where he screwed up, and that Finn would have more information when he was awake. Leia had sighed at him and Grounded him for two days, or until she talked to Finn, and he thought he got out of that pretty easy, considering.

There were few things Finn disliked more than waking up in medical. He thought at some point on the way home, he'd tried to convince Poe and Rey that he didn't need to go to medical because the hospital had patched him up so well, but they hadn't been convinced. This was probably for the better, given that he felt like death warmed over.

But Rey was nearby when he awoke, and she was awake, and she was sewing something. This, too, Finn half remembered, a brief conversation about the doll he'd found and Rey making one for Sam.

"Rey?" he croaked, to get her attention.

Rey looked up, immediately setting aside the doll. "Finn!" she squeaked, throwing her arms gingerly around him—a gentle hug, but she would not be denied a hug. "It's good to see you awake. How are you feeling?" She picked up his hand and kissed it. "We just got back. Poe's seeing the General now, and then he’s going to get Sam."

"Okay,” he said, and then grunted. “What the hell did she _stab_?" Finn asked: his side still ached, and it went deeper than the time he'd been stabbed through the leg, or most any other injury he could recall. "Is everyone else okay? Coni and Reist?" They'd been okay enough on the flight home, but Coni's hold on 'okay enough' had seemed tenuous at best.

"I think your liver, I wasn't paying attention," Rey said, pressing Finn's hand to her cheek. "And yes, they're all all right. Reist has to stay one night for observation, but you and Coni get to stay for a few days, which is why we're in this room," she said, gesturing. "And I've been making dolls. One for you, one for Poe, and one for Sam."

A loud giggle announced the arrival of Sam, which was followed by a series of whistles and beeps, which was followed by, "BB-8, there's no grammar or syntax to baby talk, you have _not_ figured out his language.” Poe smiled brightly as he entered. "Hey, Finno, lookin'—" but his greeting was drowned out by a sudden loud screech of joy and furious kicking as Sam spotted his other parents.

Finn couldn't help it—even though he felt terrible, he gave Sam and Poe a sunny smile and held his arms out toward them. He pulled Rey closer for good measure, too, although she was already sitting on the side of his bed. He still remembered Terex threatening them, and while it might have been bluffing more than anything, it made Finn's heart soar just to see his family's smiles and have them near and safe.

"Hey! Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy, kiddo," Poe laughed, trying to hold onto his wriggly infant. "You wanna see Mama first? Of course you do. We can have nap time with Daddy later, huh? Look at you, yes," he said, pressing Sam facefirst to Rey's chest, and Sam's tiny arms went around her as best as he was able while Rey cooed into his neck. Sam giggled and kicked vigorously, sending a wave of drool down her shirt.

"Oh, Sammy," she sighed, like this was the most wonderful thing in the world. "We missed you, didn't we, Finn?" she said, sitting close so Sam could reach out and pat Finn's shoulder while still holding her.

Poe walked around the other side of the bed and planted a kiss on Finn's brow. "How you feeling, Finno? They feed you yet?"

Finn smiled and about melted as Sam patted him gently and giggled. He shortly became distracted by Rey's hair, though, leaving Finn to talk to Poe for a moment. "I feel like I got stabbed by a vibro-dagger after being shocked and suffocated half to death and then running through the desert in nothing but underwear," he said. "I don't think they know I'm awake yet, so, no, haven’t been fed." He held a hand up to touch Poe's arm and squeezed gently. "I'm glad to see you," he told him.

Poe's brow pinched. "Fucking Terex," he growled, and hunkered down to kiss Finn’s brow and run a hand over his hair. "I'm not positive I'm capable of sitting through your debriefing with the General without turning homicidal, buddy," he said, and gave his shoulder a tight squeeze like it would protect him. "I'm sorry," he whispered, knowing they'd need to get drunk and talk about it later, but before Finn could answer, BB-8 made themselves known.

[Friend-Finn! Friend-Finn, why are you damaged and malfunctioning?] They hooted sadly. [This only happens when you leave BB-8. You must not go on missions without Friend-BB-8 ever again! It is simply not safe!] the droid admonished.

Finn smiled sadly at BB-8 and dropped his hand over the side of the bed to brush over their cranial dome. "I know, bud. Thank you for taking such good care of Sammy, though," he told them. Said infant was babbling happily at his mother, not apparently caring that she had no idea what he was actually saying. Finn smiled and raised the hand that was not petting BB-8 to touch Sam's shoulder. "Were you good while we were gone, little one?" he asked.

Sam lurched so suddenly at Finn that Rey struggled to hold onto him, mouth open wide into a smile and arms flung wide for a hug.

"Okay, okay," Rey said, and lowered Sam into the crook of Finn's arm on his uninjured side. Sam giggled and kicked, grabbing a handful of Finn's chin.

"Easy, buddy, be gentle with poor Daddy. Only nice kisses and—nice drool, I guess," Poe said, laying a hand on Sam's back as the boy flailed happily.

"Oh, disgusting," Rey laughed, finding a wet spot of drool Sam had left on her shirt.

"How do you drool so much, my guy, huh?" Finn asked as Sam settled a little and tried to stuff his entire hand into his mouth. "Oh I get it, you just wanted somewhere comfortable to nap. I see how it is!" he laughed, and then leaned forward to nuzzle Sam's cheek. Sam giggled and then sighed happily. And even though he still didn't feel good and his side still hurt, Finn at least had his whole family here and was content.

Poe beamed at the pair, alternating scratching Sam's back and Finn's arm. "I'm gonna go get us some food before I pass out, okay, bud?" he asked Finn, and glanced up at Rey. "Any requests?"

"No. But I am hungry, so bring a lot." She beamed gratefully and kissed Poe, and then curled up around Sam and Finn. Sam squawked and flailed, and fussed when Poe tried to leave. "Aww, buddy, you're okay, I'll be right back, son, I promise," he said, and Rey distracted Sam with tickles so Poe could slip out.

Sam squealed and kicked while Rey tickled him, and then yawned unexpectedly. He whacked himself in the face with his stub arm and tried briefly to stuff that in his mouth instead of his other hand. "You're a weird kid," Finn told him, but the baby was unconcerned. Instead, he settled with a little wiggle and promptly feel asleep. Finn smiled down at him and then at Rey. "I may have worried, for just a bit there, if I was going to see any of you three again. Not for long, but I did," he told her.

"Oh, Finn," Rey said, and curled an arm around him and held him for a long time in silence. "I will never let anything happen to you, and you'll never let anything happen to you. We're going to grow old together with Poe and play with our grandchildren and live somewhere with lots of green together. I can feel it. We have a war to win, and then we're going to be together. Don't ever think like that again." She kissed his lips softly and stroked her knuckles down his temple.

"'Kay," Finn said meekly, snuggling close to Rey and closing his eyes. He would just rest his eyes for a bit until Poe came back or Sam woke up, he told himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note from Singer:
> 
> Like many, the first time I ever saw Carrie Fisher was in Star Wars, and for a long time she was just "the lady that played Leia". But also like a lot of you, the reason I'm so shattered and sad is because the woman was an absolute powerhouse of an advocate. I could care less she was a famous actress (though I love Leia and everything she stands for and everything she is), because she was Carrie Fisher, destigmatizing mental illness in a humorous, honest, genuine way every other time you heard about her. She was imperfect, and maybe in some ways the absolute worst role model, but to me... she was that person I looked to as the example of how I should react to my whole mental illness situation. In that way that small children who have fallen down will take their cue from you as to whether or not to become hysterical, Carrie Fisher was a great "barometer". She had faced far more adversity and far more difficulty for her mental illness than mine, and hers is even more stigmatized than mine. And yet-- here is Carrie Fisher not making her mental illness into anything more or less than what it is. Here is Carrie Fisher not dismissing it and not minimizing the difficulty of mental illness, but equally not making it a huge ~thing~ that's ruining her entire life and robbing her of all her happiness. It's there, it is what it is, it's not fair, but that doesn't factor into it. So you do what you have to to pick yourself up, move on, make your peace with it and go do your thing. The world is waiting for you: go get it. Be kind, but don't take shit from anybody. Have confidence in yourself. Have hope.
> 
> Have hope.


	12. Chapter 12

Jessika had been waiting when the _Falcon_ docked, biting her lip as she stood with the medics. She was glad to see that Sevens walked out under their own power, but her stomach dropped when she saw they were bearing a stretcher with Finn on it.

But Finn had Rey and Poe, and after making sure he was okay, she turned to Sevens, who didn’t look great.

"Welcome home?" she tried, approaching gingerly. "You okay? You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Hm? Oh. No.”

There was something of an awkward silence.

“Can I kiss you? Sev, you okay, babe?" Sevens looked shell-shocked, which was an odd look, she thought, for a stormtrooper. Maybe they were all as sensitive as Finn deep down.

Sevens shuddered and tried to meet Jess' eyes, but they couldn't. Did Jess know they had been ready to leave Coni? How could she still so much as look at them, much less ask to kiss them? How were they supposed to deal with this? There had been no training for this.

"I am alright," they said, falling back on habit: pretend nothing was wrong, show no weakness. "Merely tired." They smiled and bent to kiss Jess on the corner of her mouth.

Jessika frowned. "Um. Oh. Okay," she said, wilting a little. "Well if you want—if you'd rather sleep—you can let me know when you wake up? I don't have a patrol til later tomorrow, so, you eat up, and rest, and..." she stood on her toes to kiss Seven's cheek. She supposed she could tell Snap she didn't need their quarters today, after all.

Sevens looked down at their hands. If Jess had to guess, she would say they looked nervous. "Would you stay with me?" they asked, nonchalant, "I am concerned I may be a security liability."

Jessika had to blink, wheeling back around where she had begun to turn away. She took a moment to process those words, and then her heart thumped in her chest. A security liability?

She remembered Poe (and Finn) telling her about Finn's nightmares, how he would wake up thinking he was still a stormtrooper, and—no. Jess liked Sevens, but she was _not_ able to deal with that. She felt the need to warn Sevens that if they ever raised a hand against her, she wouldn't be as forgiving as Poe.

But—maybe they didn't mean _that_. Jess hoped they didn’t mean that. "What...do you mean?" she said, eyeing them carefully, her stomach wrenching. "Why would you be...uh, that?"

"I do not believe my instincts are as reliable as I had thought. I...panicked. I nearly left Coni, injured, to die. I do not trust myself, and I cannot even wear this uniform," Sevens answered. "If my instincts are bad, someone needs to recognize them and stop me. You're the only one who knows me well enough to do that." It seemed fairly straightforward, really, now that they said it. Who better to recognize their flaws than Jess, who knew them better than anyone?

"Wait, wait, stop. Sevens—" Jess said, and she had come forward and was grasping them by the elbows (so much for that self-preservation) (maybe it's a pilot thing). Anyway, Jess wasn’t sure what they were talking about. "Instincts? Sevens, look, no one's instincts are..." She shook her head. "Okay. Not here. We’ll—let’s go talk about this somewhere else. If you want me to go with you to the armory to drop your shit, fine. Then I want us to find somewhere to talk. Get you some food and a fresher and some rack time. And we're going to process what you just said…because I think we're having, like, a Republic-First-Order miscommunication."

Sevens want sure what there was to process, but they weren't in the habit of coming up with their own solutions and Jess' seemed workable. It included food and rest, at least, which Sevens knew they needed. "I—I would like to go to the armory, yes." They crossed and uncrossed their arms uncertainly. "Can we take our food somewhere quiet? I'm not sure I want to see…anyone else just now."

Jess ran her hand up and down Sevens' arm, since the ex-stormtrooper had taken on a vulnerable-looking stance. "Yeah. We can totally do that." She wanted to press further, ask more, demand if Finn or the General had put Sevens on a mission they weren't ready for yet—but, no, it had clearly gone tits up in a way no one could have expected, with three of them returning on gurneys—so Jess tabled it for later. "What else would you like me to do? What else do you need from me? If you feel bad, I want to help." She had drawn closer again, gods, Sevens' mouth, that sexily androgynous jawline, and how they bit their lip and—okay, _no_ , Jessika, stop. You're not going to kiss anyone who thinks they might be a sleeper agent for the First Order, or _whatever_. Fuck, that would be her fucking luck, wouldn't it? In love with a traitor. Jess was sure her vagina was cursed (even though they hadn't even had sex yet), but, “What do you need?” she asked again.

"Don't—let Deeks or the other stormtroopers ask me twenty questions?" Sevens said. They didn't want them to know she was having a confidence of crisis—Deeks would be overly concerned, and the other, younger stormtroopers would only become more nervous. Timons, if she was around, would probably lose it entirely. "I just... I need to think. But I don't want to do it by myself."

"I—okay," Jessika said, nodding firmly. "Okay. You're not hurt are you?" Sevens shook their head, and they made their way to the armory together. The former stormtrooper surrendered their sidearm, power pack, and boot knife with efficiency, relaxing slightly in the well-ordered armory. "Uh...wanna help me organize my trunk?" she stammered. "That's what you guys do for a good time, right?" Jess laughed. "You can use my fresher, if you want to come to my bunk. And I have...well, chocolate. But I could get more food."

"I think I would rather be clean than organize anything, at the moment," Sevens admitted. Other than a shower while Coni had been in surgery, they hadn't found time otherwise to shower, and it has been a long trip back. They were pretty sure that first shower hadn't quite cleaned all the damn sand from their hair, either. That shit was determined to not wash out without scrubbing. "I have my soap and things in my bunk, unless I can borrow yours," they added, pausing while they figured out which direction they needed to go.

"Okay, yeah. No, no, I have— _soap_ , Sevens, of course you can borrow it," Jessika laughed, and took Sevens' hand, then seemed to think better of it, and dropped it. "Come on," she said, and melted a little inside when Sevens slipped their hand back into hers. Jessika beamed. "There, that doesn't feel too dangerous," she said shyly.

Being allowed to do things like this—a peck on the cheek or a short kiss in the hall or holding hands—still _felt_ a little dangerous to Sevens, but they were also becoming accustomed to it. More than accustomed, even, which was at odds with the instinct that had told Sevens to leave Coni behind. This was a Resistance thing, not a First Order thing, which was confusing as much as it was comforting.

They let Jess lead the way back to her bunk, but paused momentarily outside the door after it had opened. They'd never really seen the inside of Jess's quarters, and with the messy, unmade bed, clothes left strewn about, and pictures or small articles here and there, it felt like they were invading a very personal space.

But then, it probably wasn't invading if you were invited. And Jess had offered the use of her refresher, so she must not mind. When she gave Sevens' hand a gentle 'are you with me?' squeeze, Sevens smiled softly in apology and stepped through the doorway so it could close without hitting them.

"I kicked Snap out for the evening, so you can use the fresher and...whatever." Jess led Sevens into the tiny shared bathroom. "Oh, I'll go grab you some clean clothes. I'm not sure anything of mine will fit you. I'll also get some food. Uh. Clean towels, soap, shampoo," she went on, pointing everything out. "Is it...okay if I leave? I mean, we _could_ shower together if you want," she added with a wink. "Oh, uh, it links up to Arana and Kun's room, we can lock them out though while you're in there." She flicked the manual lock. "Okay?"

Sevens flipped the door lock back and forth a few times—force of habit, reminding themselves that here the doors did lock—and then smiled at Jess. "Thank you," they told her, and then kissed her softly, a sort of ‘thank you for giving me somewhere quiet to get clean and thank you for not being scared of me’ kiss, since they weren't ready to say it in so many words at just this moment. Once they'd eaten, they'd be better equipped to handle that discussion.

Jessika returned quickly with fresh clothes from supply, and fresh food from mess (well "fresh"). Sevens was just so darling and sweet, they had to be worried for nothing, right? Jess forgot what she was doing as she set out dinner for two, dimmed the lights, and lit candles as she heard Sevens finish. "Clothes are by the door," she called.

Sevens finished washing and let the water wash over them for several minutes, drowning out everything else. They heard Jess telling them there were clothes outside the door and gingerly opened it just enough to pull them inside. Clean and dressed, they left the bathroom moments later.

The clothes were not the ones Sevens was used to being seen in, and they were a little self-conscious about it. On the other hand, there was food, and for food they could overcome a great deal of discomfort. What they could not overcome was the transition from a brightly lit bathroom to a candle-lit bunk room, and they promptly tripped over the shoes they'd left sitting neatly next to the bathroom door.

"Kriffing—WHY would I do that?" they asked, and then looked up to let their eyes adjust to the lower light.

"Oh no! Sevens!" Jess yelped, going to their side, but Sevens was already standing, and they met in the middle of the room. "Is it too dark? Or do you like them?" she asked, taking Sevens' hands.

"Sorry. I—oh," they said softly. The candles lit the room beautifully, scattering soft light and flickering shadows. Best of all, they were easy on their eyes, and in the darker room, Sevens almost felt...comfortable. Safe. They cleared their throat and went to join Jess in the brighter candlelight, instead of lurking in the shadows like a spy or a traitor.

"Now, let's—eat, and talk?" She turned and held out a chair for Sevens at the boxes cunningly disguised as a table.

"Yeah," Sevens agreed, letting Jess lead them to the small table and getting a little flustered when she pulled a chair out for them. "Can we eat first?" they asked, delaying the inevitable discussion just a little longer.

"Sure! You ever had wine before? I probably shouldn't get an innocent stormtrooper drunk, but we can have a glass each," Jessika said, pouring a small glass for each of them. "I got...a bit of everything," she said. "H-how was the mission? Or—do we not want to talk about that either? I can tell you what I was up to instead," she blurted out, and while they ate she kept talking about the upgrades she had made to R4 and the patrols she had gone on and how she was pretty sure R4 and BB-8 were trying to date only she wasn't sure how that worked with astromechs. Mostly Sevens ate. Jess was talking too much to eat.

"Did Finn tell you how none of our droids had anything like a personality? I like the ones here..." Sevens said. BB-8 had the most personality, but they'd heard Master Skywalker's droids were similar. R4 might just be shy...

When they couldn't eat any more, Sevens set aside their food and their cutlery, placing it neatly where it wouldn't get knocked over. They looked at Jess a little uncertainly, hoping she'd give them some idea of where to start.

"No, he didn't, but you stormtroopers barely have personalities, so I just figured..." Jess said, and then laughed. "I'm just kidding, Sev." She reached across the table, holding her hand open until Sevens took it. "You have one of the sweetest personalities I've ever met. So I'm concerned—baffled, really—that you think something's _wrong_ with you. You couldn't be more _right_ , Sevens."

Sevens sighed deeply. "But I'm not. My instincts are all wrong," they said. "I mean, right for a stormtrooper, but that's not a good thing. I almost left Coni when she got injured because I was afraid they would catch me. My instinct is to let the weak sort themselves and to look out for myself first. There's nothing _right_ about that." They wondered if Finn had ever had this problem, and then decided that no, he probably hadn't—at least, not this way. There had been stories about how he'd watched out for his teammates, even when they were hopeless failures and he got reprimanded for doing so.

Jessika blinked, waiting, but there was no more. "Sevens!" she said, accidentally at too high a pitch. "Seriously? Sevens, that just means you're _human_ and _sane_. What does anyone do in a firefight but want to save themselves? What you did was heroic _because_ you were scared." She met Sevens' eyes with a hard look, and then leaned back in her chair with a small smirk. "Anyway, you had a crush on me from the beginning, so I'd say you have very good instincts." She winked.

"Or good taste," Sevens said, raising their eyebrows at Jess's wink. They shrugged one shoulder. "I heard about Finn and his flashbacks, and I thought I was fine, but what if I'm not?" they asked.

"Well, I don't know," Jessika said, honestly. "I'm not—trained to deal with that. And—fair warning, I'm not—I won't—" Jessika had a hard line about domestic violence, but then she had never dated anyone whose PTSD gave them a good excuse (but was there ever a _good_ excuse for that sort of thing?). "I'm not sure I can handle that," she admitted. "But we're probably getting worked up over nothing, right? You haven't had any violent tendencies, Sev, I mean, you've been talking to Dr. K, and your worst crime is, apparently, self-preservation. That's hardly a reason to not trust yourself. You _did_ the right thing." She squeezed Sevens' hand. "We should see how the rest goes."

Sevens thought for awhile, food forgotten, their hand still held in Jess's. Eventually they refocused on Jess and smiled uncertainly. "Maybe. But, Jessika, if I ever thought I might hurt you, I would leave before you had to handle it. I'm not going to hurt you, regardless of whatever kriffing damage the First Order left behind in here." They tapped the side of their head with a finger.

Jessika's heart swelled (and, well, maybe other parts of her, too) at that. "Sev, sweetheart," she said, bringing Sevens' hand up so she could kiss their hand and cup it to her cheek. "You're the strongest person I know. If anyone could fight that—fight them—it’s you." She smiled, and feeling like they had covered that as well as they both could, she tried for distraction: "Can I offer you dessert? I finally got some chocolate bars from Naboo...and we could, ah, sit on the bed, maybe watch a holo and hold hands or...cuddle?" Jess laughed. "I'm gonna guess there's no cuddling in the First Order."

Sevens laughed at this last statement, a short bark of amusement. "No, there’s no cuddling in the First Order. No touching other people in affection at all. For other reasons, but never out of affection," they answered. Before Jess could get up and get the chocolate, though, Sevens tugged at her hand, pulling her over into their lap. They grinned at the surprised look on Jess's face and kissed her, maybe a little clumsily, but they were both smiling.

"Oh!" Jess squeaked as she landed in Sevens' lap, and then their face was on her face and they were kissing, slow and unhurried. Jess curled her arms around Sevens' shoulders, threading fingers through their hair. They paused for breath a few times, noses or cheeks touching, before getting back to it. Sevens was an oddly silent kisser, but Jess made up for it as she hummed and squeaked her enjoyment. "We can also do this, as long as you want," she finally whispered, and then pulled Sevens into a solid hug.

Sevens smiled and nuzzled Jess's cheek. "I like kissing you," they said, and did it again. "But could we cuddle? I'm...I really am kind of tired. I won't fall asleep in your bed, unless you want me to. I can go sleep in my own bunk," they offered, "But cuddling sounds nice."

"Sevens," Jess said, curling her fingers into the ex-stormtrooper's short hair, "I would be ecstatic if you stayed with me. Would your squad be okay without you? I can com them to let Deeks know where you are, though then we'll never hear the end of it. Ever." Jess giggled. "But I'm not sure I mind the thought of someone reminding me that we spent a night together." She patted Sevens' thigh to move so she could get up, and went about disposing and/or cleaning their dishes. She left the candles. "So, a romantic holo? Chocolate? More wine? Sorry I'm forcing my ideal date on you," she joked.

"Oh, you're not forcing anything on me. I have been forced, and this isn't it. I _like_ this," Sevens said with an easy laugh. "All of that sounds wonderful," they added, turning backwards in their seat to watch Jess.

Jessika had only two wine glasses, which had survived her entire time in the Resistance and had made the move through four bases and numerous parties because she just couldn't drink wine out of a canteen or a plastic cup.

Anyway, now Jess only had one wine glass, because at Sevens’ admission, she dropped one, and it shattered.

"Wait, what?" she asked, spinning around. Sevens had sounded so flippant about ‘being forced,’ and they _looked_ so unconcerned that Jess might have ignored the comment, might have not understood, but she had heard from Finn and Deeks and Dr. Kalonia about what—about what was not only _possible_ but _customary_ in the First Order and—this was the whole reason _why_ Jess had wanted to wait until there wasn't a power imbalance and now did it even matter?? "Sevens, I—Sev," she said, but was helpless to say any more. What else could she say? She backed up, clutching the remaining wine glass, heedless of the glass on the floor.

"Jess—hey! Don't step in the glass—” Sevens said, getting up and stepping her out of the way. “Jessika. It happened. I understand that's why there are rules about relationships where one person outranks the other, here. But luckily for both of us, you're not my superior," they said. They reached for Jess to move her away from the glass. "I can tell you ‘no’ as much as I want," they added with a grin that was slightly haughty. This close to Jess, their height difference was very obvious, and they looked down to meet Jess's gaze. "Also, you're very short, which certainly gives me the upper hand if you attempt to ‘force’ anything. But it's not forcing if I want it too, right?" they asked.

Jess almost laughed, once, and then actually laughed, a nervous, pitiful thing, but here Sevens was trying to comfort _her_ , had grabbed her elbows and was pulling her away from the glass. "I—yeah—I know. I would _never_ —Sev, you shouldn't even joke about—I mean, you can do what you want, I can't tell you how to handle—but, kriff, Sevens." Jess drew back again. "I'm—I’m scared to _touch_ you now, Sevens, I don't want to mess up, I want to make sure you—that it's what you want." _Oh gods, could she sound any more patronizing?!_ "I mean. Uh. Do you want to talk about it?" Jessika didn't particularly want to hear about it, but she had to offer.

"Well—I may just be a blunt First Order weapon, but I have an idea." Sevens smiled, trying to put Jess's mind at ease. "What if _I_ do the touching?" they asked, and touched Jess's chin to tip her head back a little, exposing her beautiful throat, which they resolved to kiss later. For now, though, they just looked down at Jess, gauging her reaction.

Jessika gasped, at how tender Sevens' hold was, and how firm, and this beautiful person had been so badly treated for so long and now they were—now—

"Sevens, I'm sorry," she gasped, eyes shining. "I—" she flung a hand up, wiping it across her eyes. "You're not a blunt weapon. You're too gentle for that." She laughed suddenly. "Now it's my turn to totally not trust myself so—yes, touch away. Please."

Sevens thought maybe they should move away from the glass before one of them forgot it and stepped on it, and it would need to be cleaned up at some point, but that didn't need to happen now. Instead, they drew Jess to safer ground and held her close, one hand on her waist and the other holding her hand. Sevens decided they really liked the way Jess fit in their arms, tucked safely under their chin. "Is this cuddling?" they asked as they kissed Jess's hair.

Jess giggled a little wetly. "Kinda. Usually it happens more...horizontally. But not always, if you're more comfortable with this," she added hastily. She carefully placed her hands on Sevens' slim hips and leaned into their frame. No part of them was soft, but neither was it sharp: they were just solid, and warm, and inviting. Jess knew better than to let herself get carried away, but Sevens' arms just felt so good. "You could relax on the bed while I clean this up," she managed weakly, wanting to put some distance between them because she didn't trust herself not to do or say the wrong thing at the wrong time if she didn’t have some breathing space.

Sevens gave Jess a squeeze and stepped back to sit on the bed, watching her with interest as she swept the broken wine glass into the trash compactor. "What do you want to watch?" they asked, recalling that they were going to watch holos while they cuddled.

"Do you want to watch something?" Jess said. "Something fun or something romantic? I don't watch anything that isn't action-adventure or a romantic comedy, for the most part." She handed Sevens a datapad. "There's my list of holos. I can recommend something, too," she said, sweeping up the last of the glass and sitting on the edge of her bunk. Sevens was a long, lean line, and they looked...very comfortable, in a big-spoon sort of way that made Jessika’s back feel cold.

"I don't know any of these," Sevens laughed. They handed the holopad back to Jess. "You should pick one you like." That would give them the excuse to appreciate the soft curve of Jess' neck as she bent over the holopad, and the soft shadows cast on her cheeks from the candles. The light turned her hair from dark brown to black, with pretty dark red highlights where the light was brightest.

"Let's watch something—romantic, then," Jess said, having trouble looking away from Sevens' green eyes. When she looked down again, it was only to choose a holo that—okay, yes, one where the lovers were sweet and sensitive with each other, where consent was explicit and never in doubt—because it was easier than talking about it. "Can I lie down with you?" she asked, as the holo got started. "Feel free to use the pillows. And—" Jess blushed and grabbed a stuffed animal and pressed it against Sevens' chest. "You can hold Tuffy. He's a dog. Obviously a stuffed depiction of a dog. Dunno if you've seen one before."

"I've never seen a dog, except maybe in a picture once," Sevens answered, examining the stuffed toy and then squeezing it experimentally. It was oddly comforting, so they did it again before nestling against the pillows and beckoning Jess to join them. "What are we watching?" they asked softly as they both got settled.

"It's a nice one. Lesbian romantic comedy, they’re always funnier. So it's funny, sweet. Makes me cry at the end. Happy ending, though, I promise. If it's boring you we can watch something else, though. And I like to talk during holos, but I can keep quiet if—" she laughed. "Sorry, I'm already talking too much. Where do you want me?"

"Where I can hug you," Sevens answered, giving Jess a coy grin. They reached for one of Jess' hands and tugged her close so they were stretched out next to each other, with Jess' back to Sevens. It felt very secure, and Sevens enjoyed feeling a little protective—not that they'd tell Jess, who was more than capable of taking care of herself. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable," Sevens was eventually forced to admit, and they paused, letting Jess decide how close she wanted to snuggle, or if this was a comfortable arrangement.

"Oh _gods_ ," Jessika whispered, and squeaked as Sevens put an arm around her waist. "Y-yeah. This is _great_. I am so great. How are you?" she laughed. "Oh man, I'm sorry, I've been single—I mean, I'm just so awkward. Can I use Tuffy as a pillow? Then this will be perfect." She ooched back so she lay flush against Sevens. Their arms were more than just warm, and strong, they felt—like somewhere she wanted to belong, permanently.

Sevens would have made a happy, comfortable sound if they'd known what it sounded like. Since they didn't, they settled for giving Jess a little hug and nestling down against her back. They gave her a gentle kiss just behind her ear and then rested their head on one of the pillows, chin just touching her hair, just barely able to see the holo over the top of her head.

"Mm," Jess said, wriggling slightly at the kiss, which tingled all the way to her toes. "Can you see okay? Are we—is this okay?" She threaded her fingers together with Sevens'. "I like this character the best. She works at the coffee shop, and we'll meet her girlfriend, the pod-racing badass who comes in and orders coffee and we find out she hates coffee and is just—oh, sorry, I'm ruining it." She pulled Sevens' hand up to her mouth, to press against her lips, half a kiss, half to quiet herself.

Jess was so _good_ and she was so unexpectedly tender and sweet in a way that her brash, devil-may-care bravado had never given Sevens cause to guess—and Sevens was every bit as fond of that side of her, too. But their attention had wandered, and they made themselves refocus on the holo, where the woman who didn't like coffee was making a disgusted face out of view of the other woman. "I would like to taste coffee. Is it like caf?" they asked quietly.

"Oh, yeah! Coffee and caf are the same thing. It's what they call it on a couple of backwater planets, like where I'm from. She's just making fancy caf drinks, lattes and things." Jess grinned, snuggled closer, pulled Sevens' arm tighter around her. She tilted her head to place a kiss on Sevens' chin. "Would it make you uncomfortable if I take off some clothes? Not all of them. And we can get under the covers, too."

"No, I don't mind," Sevens said, because regulation uniforms were not exactly uncomfortable, but they weren't very good for cuddling or sleeping. "But could we pause the holo? I don't want to miss it," they added, before returning Jess' kiss.

Jess grinned, paused the holo, and sat up. She shucked quickly out of her pants and reached inside her shirt to unhook her bra, and called that good. "You comfy? You can sleep here or go whenever you like."

"Tova snores..." Sevens said, wrinkling their nose. After considering a moment, they also removed their pants and climbed back into the bed. This time they stretched out under the covers and held their arm up for Jess to join them.

A wide grin spread across Jessika's face. "You look...very beautiful," she said, admiring openly. "You'll let me know if anything we do makes you uncomfortable, right? If anything doesn't make you really happy, I mean. I would love for you to stay the night. But Snap snores, too," she chuckled.

"Yes, I'll tell you. But this makes me happy. At least I'm used to snoring." Sevens beckoned with a nod, trying to reassure Jess that they really did enjoy this, and they really did like cuddling, and even though this was very new and felt a little...strange, maybe even a little dangerous to the part of them that forgot this wasn't the First Order, this was what they really _wanted_. "You'll tell me if you're uncomfortable, right?" they asked suddenly, just to be certain.

"Of course, Sev," Jessika said, returning to that cozy place in her arms, now more intimate and comfortable with the brush of skin. Jess was glad she had just shaved her legs, though she couldn’t imagine Sevens caring. "Of course. And right now I'm so comfortable I could fall asleep," she hummed, and leaned back in Sevens' arms and turned on the holo again. She tangled their fingers together again and pressed their hand to her chest, kind of nestled between her breasts. "You like the holo so far?"

"Yes! I like the biker. She's very cute, but I also wouldn't want to anger her." Kind of like Jess, really. Sevens smiled to themselves and hugged Jess close with a happy little sigh. Jess was warm, and she was a comforting presence in Sevens' arms, especially since she had their hand held securely to her chest. Neither of them was going anywhere any time soon, which was comforting. Sevens could finally relax, because there was nothing to anticipate next except maybe falling asleep or picking another movie, and that was wonderful.

As the credits rolled, Jess rolled over in Sevens' arms, tear tracks still staining her cheeks. "Did you cry?" she asked, gazing up at them. "I'm kind of a baby with these movies." She nuzzled gingerly against Sevens' cheekbones like she could cut herself on them, and without thinking, wound her arm around the back of Sevens' neck. With her arm curled around their neck like this, Jess was close enough to Sevens that they could still see tears that had caught in her eyelashes.

"You're crying because it's happy, right? They ended up together in the end in spite of everything?" Sevens asked, and they brushed the tears off of Jess' cheeks with a gentle hand. They smiled and kissed her on the nose before resting their forehead against hers and enjoying this feeling of being so close to another person simply because they wanted to be.

"Yeah. The kriffing orphanage at the end gets me every time," Jess said, smiling, and closing her eyes as Sevens pressed their foreheads together. "Feels good," she whispered, and gently tugged so that Sevens lay squarely on top of her. Sevens wasn't exactly heavy, but they were solid, and their weight was comforting. "You could stay like this all night," she suggested, opening one eye with a mischievous glint. "If you wanted. I missed you."

Sevens smiled down at Jess. No one, ever, in their entire life, had missed them. Not _ever_. Except, maybe, whatever family she had been kidnapped from, but that didn’t count. "I missed you too. Not that I don't like the people who went, but, well, it would have been better with you along," they said, nestling down as much as they could without squishing Jess.

Jessika smirked. "Told ya I should have poisoned Poe's breakfast and taken his place," she said, and then, as Sevens' eyebrows climbed into their hairline, "No, that was a joke. I would only ever lovingly poison my commanding officer, as a friend, and only something that wouldn't kill him." She winked.

Sevens snorted softly and turned their head to kiss Jess' neck, because they'd waited this long and it _had_ to be done. "I don't know how you lovingly poison someone, but I don't doubt you'd manage it if you wanted to..." they chuckled, and gave Jess another lazy, gentle kiss—on the lips this time.

"Oh, I'd—you know—make him drink some bantha milk that was—off—or, um—" Jessika tried, her brain quickly scrambling as Sevens kissed her. "Uh. Or I'd lock him in his—refresher—until we were gone. BB-8 would be sure to find—" but then Jessika couldn't take the gentle kisses anymore, or else Sevens had had enough of her gabbing, and Jess flung an arm around the back of Sevens' neck and wrapped both legs around their hips as they locked lips. Sevens was a fantastic kisser—enthusiastic if unpracticed—and Jess found herself quickly melting into the giant girl made of butterflies and glitter and bunnies that she was in her heart of hearts. "Sev," she moaned, surging up into the kiss and opening herself to her lover, fingers threading through their baby soft hair.

Sevens smiled into the kiss and that adorable little moan. Jess was melting in their arms, utterly trusting, nothing hidden or shielded or kept back. It was incredible, unexpected, given freely, and Sevens thought they might love this woman. They pressed their face to her shoulder and cuddled her close with a soft, surprised squeak.

Jessika burst into laughter at the squeak Sevens made. "Oh gods, that was the cutest thing I've ever heard!" she giggled. "Do that again!" she said, poking her in the side so she would laugh or squeak again. When they kissed again, they were laughing into it, and carrying on so that Jess didn't hear their keycode being entered before the door whooshed open.

"Eep!" she cried, and instinctively covered Sevens' head with the blanket. Luckily, the lights were dim.

"Whoa! Looks like you guys had fun?" Snap asked. "I don't need the lights, you want me to blow out your candles before we sleep?"

"Erm," Jess said. "Yeah. We. Ah. _Had_. A great time."

Sevens blinked as they found their head covered suddenly with the sheets, then grinned mischievously and poked Jess in the ribs to see if they could make her giggle.

"Great! That's great, Jess. Whoa, what happened to your wine glass?" he asked conversationally, and she told him, conversationally, and she asked, politely, what he had done that evening and he told her, and she thanked him for giving her the room to herself and was it _really_ midnight already? She had entirely lost track of time, and paid for it by barely containing her squeaks as Snap got himself ready for bed while Sevens was poking and tickling her. Eventually Snap was in bed and they blew out the candles, and, luckily, Snap fell asleep quickly.

Jess stuck her head under the covers with Sevens. "Oh my gosh!" she hissed. "I'm sorry! I wasn’t keeping track of the time. Do you want to stay or sneak out?"

"I'd rather stay," Sevens whispered, "But I'm kind of suffocating under the covers." It was uncomfortably warm, which was partially their fault for tickling Jess mercilessly. "Can we cuddle some more?" they asked hopefully.

"Sorry, yeah, yes," Jess giggled, and kissed their nose. "But quietly." She tugged the blanket off their heads, ruining both their hair. Jess kissed them again, wrapping arms and legs around her again. "Comfy?" she whispered, very softly. "I'm told my boobs are excellent pillows."

"Hmmmm," Sevens said thoughtfully, and then slung their arm over Jess and nestled against her. When they were as close as humanly possible to Jess, practically half on top of her, they sighed and rested their head on her chest. Jess hadn't lied, even if she'd been a bit silly—her breasts were basically perfect, soft enough to be pillows without being...weird. Sevens didn't think about it too hard. "Mmmm, yes, good pillow, I agree," they said sleepily.

They kissed lazily, sliding skin against skin. At some point, Jessika's shirt came off entirely, but they were content in each other's closeness and intimacy. "Sleep well," Jess finally murmured, running her hand over Sevens' hair, continuing to pet them. "Don't move. I'm comfortable like this if you are." She kissed the shell of Sevens' ear after she said it.

"Really?" Sevens asked, only half believing, but Jess had told them earlier that she would tell them if anything made her uncomfortable. "I don't know how you're so comfortable..." they said as the two of them finally settled, Sevens draped over Jess, their arms tucked snug to either side of the small woman.

" _Yes_ really," Jess insisted, adjusting so that her nose pressed into Sevens' hair, which smelled like her shampoo and like...Sevens. She giggled, loud enough that Snap shifted and harrumphed in his sleep, and they froze. "I mean, of course I'm soft. Have you seen the other pilots? There's a reason we're not winning any boloball championships." She kissed Sevens' forehead and lay her head back. "Nice," she said. "Very nice. Um. Sleep good. Thanks for staying."

"Thank you for letting me stay," Sevens whispered in Jess' ear, and then kissed her cheek, leaving the unspoken 'I love you' hanging between them, unsure if it was something they could say when they didn't know the first thing about love. "I missed you. I'm glad I'm home," they added, already half asleep, and with a quiet yawn, closed their eyes for sleep.

Jessika hummed at that and smiled, and wrapped her arms loosely around Sevens’ back, laying one hand on the back of their head to pet their silky hair. “I’m glad, too,” she said, and then the room fell silent, was reduced to their breathing and the sounds of their hearts beating and—

“Tarkin’s teeth, he really _does_ snore!” Sevens laughed, and actually buried their face between Jessika’s breasts to stifle their laugh.

Jessika snorted. “I know, isn’t it awful? I do have earplugs…”

…

In the morning, they were awakened by a loud yelp. “Hey! How did you get in here? Were you in here the whole time?” demanded Temmin Wexley, pulling his blankets up to his chin as if deeply scandalized. “Were you here the entire ti— _Pava_! Were they here the whole time?”

Jessika grumbled. “Well we were in the bed together when you just waltz in, Snap, what were we supposed to do?”

“We had agreed—midnight!” Snap spluttered, and pulled out his datapad as if to capture an image. “Fine, this is for blackmail later. You deserve this.”

“Wexley!” Jess shrieked, trying to sit up, but she had a very heavy warm stormtrooper on her chest. 

Sevens actually laughed at Jess' high-pitched screech as they shifted to the side and glanced back at Snap. "You snore like a bantha with a head cold," they informed him, still grinning. "What are you planning on blackmailing us for? I do know where you sleep," they added pleasantly. They were still cuddled up to Jess' side and didn't see any reason to move from this comfortable warmth, and if Wexley ruined it they were stealing his holopad and wiping all of the blackmail photos.

Snap frowned. "Well, noted," he said. "But you could have _said_."

"And miss the opportunity to hear you yelp?" Jess teased. "He's an excellent roommate, actually. Except for the snoring," she added in his defense.

"Ha ha. So, Sevens, did _you_ enjoy yourself last night?" Snap asked, as he began to gather up his clothes to duck into the refresher.

"Yes I did! Very much," Sevens said, and they nuzzled Jess' shoulder, winding their arms and legs around her a little possessively. But the silliness of it made them giggle, and they had to let go enough to catch their breath. "Thank you for letting us kick you out," they told Snap as he shuffled into the bathroom.

Jess beamed at Sevens, rolling to her side so they were on equal ground, and she sat up on one elbow to lean in for a kiss. "I'm glad you don't sleep like you're in a coffin," she said. "Finn said there was a learning curve for him. But you're a great snuggler." She grinned and pressed their noses together. "Should we get dressed and get some chow so we don't have to make Snap suffer any further? Though to be fair _he's_ the one usually the guests around at all hours." She rolled her eyes.

"I adapted quickly," Sevens answered, and then stretched luxuriously before sitting up. "Yeah, guess we should. Hey—" they turned to Jess and took her hands, pressing them earnestly in theirs. "Thank you. For—for last night, and for taking care of me, and for missing me." They leaned forward to kiss her, a gentle, unhurried kiss, and they smiled when they sat back.

"Sevens. You beautiful, rule-breaking nerf," Jessika said, before she realized that was a strange thing to say. "Oh wait you haven't seen that show yet. We'll watch that show. I'm sorry, you were—we were having a moment and I—crap." Jess slapped herself in the face and kissed Sevens. "I love you," she blurted out. "I—I mean—if that's...okay? You don't have to love me back yet, or ever. That's not. I just—I’ve never met anyone so kind and caring in spite of their—of everything—well, except for one person, I guess, but he's kind of not my type and also taken, twice over. And is also my best friend, ew! Why did I just think that? Sevens, help me!" Jess cried, covering her face with her hands.

"Jess—Jess, calm—stop that," Sevens said. They took Jess' hands to pull them away from her face. "Jess. I don't know if I know what love is, but you make me so _happy_ and I trust you more than anyone else and I _missed_ you while I was gone, and I've never missed anyone." They smiled, waiting until Jess looked at them to continue. "And if I can use words I'm not sure how to define, I love you too."

Jess felt her heart melting as Sevens said that, as they eased her fears even though the poor thing was still building a working definition of 'love'. "Oh, Sevens," Jess said, and hugged them like hugging them was a feat of strength she was trying to prove. "Whatever you define love as, I want to be that for you," she whispered into the hollow of the ex-stormtrooper's throat. "I love you. And I miss you even when I close my eyes."

Sevens squeaked when Jess hugged them tight and then didn't let go. "That may make sleeping difficult for you," Sevens said with a low chuckle. "We should probably get dressed before Snap is done in the refresher."

Jess grinned. "Yeah, I guess it would, huh?" she said, and with a final kiss she got up. "Come on, I'll buy you breakfast."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, folks! Wow! A year since we started this series, and we have another year of content planned for you, at least until Episode VIII renders this non canonical. ;) 
> 
> Thanks as always for reading, and we'll see you in Part 19, where our heroes are getting ready for their imminent wedding (which mostly just means cleaning up the First Order).

**Author's Note:**

> Running List of OCs:
> 
>  **Coni:** Female human Resistance soldier. Likes illegal tackles in Boloball.  
>  **Deeks:** Male human ex-stormtrooper, now pilot for the Resistance, complete dork.  
>  **Jonorai:** Female Twi'lek in charge of the Resistance daycare center.  
>  **Nova and Tova:** Female (Nova) and male (Tova) human sibling ex-TIE fighter pilots, now pilots for the Resistance.  
>  **Reist:** Nonbinary human Resistance soldier.  
>  **Sam Dameron:** Finn's clone rescued from a First Order cloning facility, adopted by Finn, Rey, and Poe. Drools a lot.  
>  **Sevens:** Nonbinary human ex-stormtrooper now Resistance soldier. Dating Jessika Pava.  
>  **Dr. Tamo Lan:** Female Ewok doctor of psychology, therapist for ex-stormtroopers.  
>  **Timons:** Female human ex-First Order tech, was on the officer track before defecting. Major PTSD and anxiety.  
>  **Torch:** Male Zabrak Resistance soldier. Finn's second in command on this mission.
> 
> ...
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! And if you haven't read the rest of _Stars and Skies_ , we hope you'll check out the series.
> 
> Please consider letting us know what you like or what we can improve on in the Comments. You can also come bother us (or cry with us about Carrie Fisher) on Tumblr at [Maeglinthebold](http://maeglinthebold.tumblr.com/) and [A-singer-of-songs](http://a-singer-of-songs.tumblr.com/).


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